


Corin Can't Stay Quiet

by EmpressAelin



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Corin is a dad(tm), Corin is a master of awkward conversations, Din is a dad(tm), Din talks about his emotions, Force Healing, I think I have too many tags, LadyIrina, M/M, ManDadlorian, Sorry Not Sorry, You dont drink alcohol after getting a gut wound, baby yoda loves his dads, chapter 2 is set after episode 5, conversation in an ice cave, corin gets hurt but he gets better, corin is a mechanic by hobby, corin makes din talk about his emotions, set after episode 4, set in Ice and Luck, the au fic where corin can't be quiet, trust me that's important later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 26,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22104889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmpressAelin/pseuds/EmpressAelin
Summary: When Corin can't stay quiet during the hours he and the Mandalorian have to wait out an ice storm, Corin ends up asking questions and endearing himself to the mysterious Mandalorian.All it takes is tendency to talk to much, some skills in mechanics, and the ability to be the best baby sitter ever, and soon Corin isn't sure where he crossed the line from enemy to friend to possibly more, but he's here to see it through. Good or bad luck be damned.
Relationships: Baby Yoda & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/Corin (LadyIrina), The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/Original Character, The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)/Original Male Character(s), The Mandalorian/Corin
Comments: 204
Kudos: 507
Collections: Movies





	1. Ice Cave Conversations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyIrina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyIrina/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Ice and luck](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21594913) by [LadyIrina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyIrina/pseuds/LadyIrina). 
  * Inspired by [Rescue and Regret](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21648874) by [LadyIrina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyIrina/pseuds/LadyIrina). 
  * Inspired by [Family and Home](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21758992) by [LadyIrina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyIrina/pseuds/LadyIrina). 



Where paths cross in time and slight, differences lead to adventure. Where hearts and minds are tested, seeking what is true, wondering what the truth is. 

Din had long stopped keeping track of how much trouble he and the kid ran into, side trips to small backwater planets leading to bounty hunter attacks and fights for their lives. They had left Sorgan, a red desert planet just over two weeks ago, had been on that planet with Liita for four days, and were now stuck in an ice cave with a Storm Trooper. Great. Just great. 

The kid wiggled squirmed in his grasp like he wanted to get up and walk around. The cave floor was ice and the womp rat didn’t have shoes of any kind, so Din was not going to let that happen regardless of the fact there was kriffing Storm Trooper a few feet away. The trooper had spoken twice earlier, since then only silence, but the slight raises and tilts of the man’s helmet gave away that he wanted to say something. The blanket the trooper had given them was a nice gesture, even if it was highly suspicious.

They’ve been sitting in silence for an hour now and the Trooper is fidgeting, obviously not doing great sitting in silence. The kid keeps chirping and cooing at Din, making grabby hands at him or the trooper until the trooper finally speaks up again.

“What species is it?” The question is hesitant like the Trooper is still wary of being shot at a moment’s notice, even though the pulse rifle is laying on the ground, and his hands are preoccupied with holding the kid.

Din holds the silence for nearly a minute before tensely replying. “I don’t know.”

The trooper startles slightly, like he hadn’t expected a response, but tilts his head and watches the kid for a few more seconds. “It’s very cute.”

Din bites back a snort of laughter and instead gives a deadpan reply. “For a womp rat.”

The trooper chuckles softly and the kid faces him from the blanketed hold. It reached out a hand and waves its three little fingers a bit. For a second Din is tense thinking the kid's going to use his powers but after a few seconds it became clear it was a regular wave of the hand. The trooper waves back slightly with a head tilt that indicates a smile. “You’ve had it for about two standard months now, right?”

Din took a few moments to weigh the information he is about to share. It’s pretty standard information for anyone willing to dig into the history of him having the kid. “Almost three. Took a long time to find the kid and bring him back to the Client.”

A curious head tilt from the Trooper. “Why’d it take so long?”

Another deadpan reply, “Jawas.”

The trooper stays silent for a second before he full-on laughs and Din could admit that it was pretty funny to think about, a big scary bounty hunter, who probably terrified this Trooper, had been delayed by the vermin that were Jawas. Din rolled his eyes with an exaggerated head tilt that conveyed the emotion and just made the Trooper laugh harder.

The Trooper’s laughter died down and breathlessly replied. “Luckily there’s no Jawas on this ice planet. Granted there’s not much of anything here besides the settlement underneath the surface but even that’s small.” The trooper shrugged in a “what can you do about it” way.

Din resisted the urge to shrug back and acknowledge the strange part of his life that was surrounded by the “what can you do about it” attitude. Laughing and the comradery was strange but it made the time pass faster so he added more to the conversation topic. “The Jawas stripped my whole ship. Took almost two weeks to put it back together.”

The trooper winced slightly and just shook his head. “I’ve had to deal with a few ships that were Jawa stripped and it’s almost easier to build the whole ship up from scrap then try and put everything back where it belongs, and that’s if you get all the pieces back.”

Din was shocked for a bit. He hadn’t pegged the trooper as someone who would work on the ships. Normal troopers were cannon fodder that learned how to barely hit the broad side of a barn. “You’re a mechanic?”

The trooper perked up a bit at the question but waved a hand dismissively. “Only as a hobby interest. I got into it a year after the Empire fell and needed to diversify my skills to stay alive. Being good at tinkering got me the promotion I needed to get stationed here.”

Din was startled for a moment. There was a lot to unpack from those few sentences but the part that seemed most important at the moment needed to be addressed. “You wanted to be stuck on this freezing ice blob?”

The Trooper chuckled and shrugged again. “I like the cold and snow, the position also gets us better armor also. The HUDs don’t glitch as much and the heating systems keep me warm and dry. Also, except for current situations,” a slightly mocking and accusatory stare was directed at the Mandalorian, how he got and understood that glare was a mystery, “nothing happens here besides collecting taxes from the settlement and hunting the yeti-beasts. It keeps me fed and paid and most importantly alive.”

Din had to take another moment to unpack the information the Trooper was giving out. The way he spoke of being a storm trooper was how many bounty hunters and mercenaries spoke of their jobs. Means to an end that kept them fed and alive for the price of knowing how to shoot a blaster and some risk of life and limb. He now had to ask a question that had been budding in the back of his head for as long as they had been talking. “So you don’t have an undying love for the Empire?”

The Trooper shrugged with the casualness of a man who had contemplated his life worth and found it lacking. “I was raised in it, I was born about a year before the clone wars ended. My mother became an army technician on my planet and my father and uncle were higher ranking naval officers. According to the logs my father actually got promoted to admiral a few days before he died.” There was silence as the trooper was obviously reliving a few memories and momentarily grieving.

Din was cautious to ask his next question but he was wondering. “Are they all dead?”

The trooper nodded in the sad manner Din easily recognized, regret and guilt. “My mother died when I was young. I think she was sick but was still working and got caught up in a skirmish. I was moved to the pre-academy after that. My uncle was on the Yavin Death Star and my father on Endor. I was only a few years out of the academy when Endor happened. I’ve been coasting along since trying to stay alive. I received good luck and the promotion I needed to end up here about a year ago.”

Silence filled the cold air now. If they were normal people, this would be the point Din would share his basic life story and let the Trooper ask his questions that he obviously had. But they weren’t normal people. They were a Storm Trooper and a Mandalorian. Silence continued to ring in both men’s ears until the kid cooed and wiggled in the Mandalorian’s lap, making the man focus on the child for a few moments. The trooper may have no issue telling his life story to a stranger who had earlier threatened his life but Din had no such ease. His story was one he only ever revisited in his nightmares.

The trooper just sat watching the kid for a few minutes before scratching underneath his arm plating in contemplation. He hesitantly asked, “Why do they want him?”

Din tensed but could hear the desperate curiosity in the Troopers voice. He was questioning something with a lot more meaning than what his question had asked. “I don’t know.” His answer was simple and true. He didn’t know why the remains of the Empire wanted the child, only that he would never let them have him.

The Trooper sat quietly for many minutes. Switching between watching the squirming child and gazing into the raging storm. He tensed and relaxed, obviously debating something internally. He continued to be quiet though. No more questions. Only silent contemplation. It was nearly enough to drive Din, the master of the unnerving silence, crazy enough to demand to know what the other man was thinking. He nearly did so before the trooper shifted and raised his gaze to meet Din’s through their visors. He stayed there, gazes locked together yet hidden before the trooper spoke in a near whisper. “I can’t do it.”

A questioning noise from the Madalorian was the only response Din was able to give.

“I can’t turn you in. I was trying to rationalize it in my head but I can’t do it. I can’t even believe that turning you in alive versus dead is doable. Whatever morals I still have won’t let me turn you and the kid in.” The Trooper sounded so defeated yet assured of himself and his choice.

The Mandalorian simply nodded his acknowledgement of the Troopers decision before they descended into silence to wait out the next hour of storm.

\------

When the time came to leave the cave, they did it in short order. On the way back, the trooper fell into an ice crevice and would have died if the kid hadn’t saved him. Din had been the one to pull the trooper over the edge after the kid ran out of power. Besides a quiet and shaking, “Thanks,” they didn’t mention it. Instead they continued walking. 

They worked on the ship with few comments of what parts the Mandalorian needed and the Trooper commenting on the remaining Jawa damage. When the reinforcements arrived, the trooper hesitated but only for a moment before meeting the Mandalorian’s gaze and giving a firm nod of affirmation. He would not betray them. He would cover for them so that they could escape from this icy blob as the Mandalorian had so affectionately called it. The Trooper distracts his reinforcements and they set off on the icy and dangerous trek far away from the Mandalorian and Child. The Mandalorian snatches up the Child as the Snow Trooper walks away. He sees the small shift in the Troopers hand and acknowledges that for better or worse, they made an ally of a Trooper and the weirdness of his and the kid’s adventures are just going to keep getting weirder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was betad by the amazing @Hart_Attack22!!!!


	2. Rescue and Flight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corin is rescued and more conversation in the Razor Crest.

Chapter 2: Rescue and Conversation

The Troopers are putting up a fight against the mercenaries and Din is having a hard time watching. After the failed bounty run on Tatooine they had bounced around to ditch any hunters that might have tried to pick up their trail from the desert planet. Peli had done her best with the ship and the time he had given her, but there were still problems that needed to be fixed before he ended up in another fight, and he knew another fight was inevitable.

Din had been slightly unnerved at the sight of the Troopers helmets back on Tatooine, white helmets covered in rusted red blood and placed on stakes. Din hadn’t looked if there were heads inside the staked helmets. Watching the actual execution was a harsh reminder of the semi-ally he and the kid had made back on the ice blob. 

They had come to this planet in search of some sort of work and had found nothing yet. Except this morbid display that the kid should not be watching. Which caused Din to look down to cover the kids eyes and walk away. But, there was no kid.

He looked around his immediate area and behind him to see if the kid had just not kept up but the kid was nowhere near him. He started to scan the crowds and felt his heart drop at what he saw. The kid making his way to stand before the Trooper currently struggling against the mercenaries. The Trooper is kicked to the ground and goes down with a thud. The kid is nearly in front of the downed trooper and Din is shoving his way through the crowd to grab his kid before something happens. The trooper seems to spot the kid and freezes, as does the trooper’s captor. The crowd murmurs around Din as he finally breaks through the crowd, scoops the kid up and is now standing before the kneeling Storm Trooper.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He checks the kid over quickly to make sure the disaster prone womp rat hadn’t gotten hurt somehow. “We talked about you wandering off.” And oh the conversation that had been, scolding a fifty year old child that was smarter than it seemed was always a highlight of his day.

The kid squirmed and raised a hand towards the trooper whose expression was still frozen but was showing hints of disbelief. The kid is complaining but Din is not putting him down again. The kid keeps reaching for the trooper who is slowly unfreezing and is starting to look panicked again.

Din can’t contain his curiosity about who this trooper is that the kid wants to intervene. “Who are you?”

The mercenaries holding the trooper are all staring at the Mandalorian in disbelief but Din couldn’t care less what they think as long as the blaster isn’t aimed at the kid or him. 

The trooper tries to speak but winces when his head is jerked back, “We’ve met. The ice planet. Your ship was shot down. We ended up stuck in that ice cave for hours. Your kid saved me from falling in the crevice.” The mercenary was forcing the blaster into the trooper’s neck making it hard for the trooper to speak and breathe but the trooper didn’t stop talking. “I helped you escape the ice blob.” A dry laugh and a wince. “Ended up getting demoted to this kriffing hellhole of a desert planet.”

Din nods. He’s convinced. How the kid recognized the trooper probably had to do with his powers. The mercenaries are tense and threatening.

“Back off Mandalorian. This is our bounty. And you… Wait, that kid….”

Din doesn’t hesitate to pull his blaster and shoot the mercenary. The trooper flinches but opens his eyes a few seconds later with disbelief of not being dead clearly written across his face. The crowd starts to scream and Din sends a few more blaster shots at the other mercenaries before barking at the trooper to get up and follow him.

They take off for the Razor Crest and make it with a few stray blaster shots hitting the buildings around them. They hurry into the cockpit and Din has the ship up and flying in less than a minute. He quickly picks a destination and sets the autopilot. He turns to face the trooper whose face is pale but the gratitude is obvious in every feature of his face.

“Thank you.” The two words are completely sincere and Din nods in acknowledgement briefly before considering knocking the trooper out. He could do it easily, a simple punch to the face but he knows this stupid trooper well enough to know that wouldn’t solve many of his problems. So instead he settles for intimidation.

“Now.” The tone is menacing and the trooper gulps but the effect is ruined by the kid cooing at that moment. Din ignores the kid. “We do this two ways. One, I knock you out and strip you of your gear and weapons. Or two, you get to stay awake but you still lose the armor.”

The trooper gulped again. “I’ll take option two.”

“Thought so. Down into the cargo bay.”

The trooper practically fell down the ladder to the cargo bay. Din grabbed the kid and climbed down to find the trooper undoing his armor clasps. And being nervous enough that he was failing miserably at it.

The trooper looked up at the Mandalorian with a grimace. “It’s designed to be easy to put on and hard to take off.”

The blank glare Din returned the man was received with a terse nod. The trooper calmed down a bit and managed to get his chest piece off. He paused for a second before sliding it across the floor to Din. “There’s a tracking chip in the wiring, you’ll want to disable it before anything happens.”

Din reluctantly set the kid down and started to pick the wiring of the chest piece apart to find the tracking chip. The kid stayed by his side or less than a minute before it was standing in front of the trooper watching him struggle out of his armor. The trooper gave the kid an embarrassed smile but kept working on taking off the armor. A few minutes later and the trooper was down to his black under suit holding his boots. He glanced at the Mandalorian before holding them out. “You wanna check these or can I put my shoes back on?”

The Mandalorian gives what has to be the most deadpan glare before the trooper nervously chuckles and puts his shoes back on. He muttered, “Note to self, Mandalorians don’t like jokes.”

Din had found the chip and disabled it, holding it up between two fingers to show the trooper. The trooper nodded. “Everyone has one of those in their armor, though half the time the chips are faulty, especially now that the armor is getting older.”

Din considered this. “You sure you don’t want your friends to come and find you?”

The trooper snorted. “I got demoted because you escaped and the officer knew I hated desert planets so he saw fit to send me to that sandy hellhole.”

Din chanced showing his curiosity show. “And you aren’t looking for a promotion?”

There’s no hesitation before the trooper replies. “No. I don’t care about ranks and you already got me off that desert hellhole so I’m fine as I am right now. I just want to stay alive, that’s all.”

The kid chirps and pats the trooper’s leg which earns him a soft smile. The kid practically beams up at the trooper who is obviously falling deeper into the kid’s cuteness trap. Din sighs with the weight of the universe on his shoulders, paces over to a cabinet where he grabs a jacket he had stashed there, and throws it at the trooper. The trooper startles but catches the jacket and nods his thanks. 

Din heads back up the ladder to the cockpit after grabbing the kid. The trooper follows and they all grab seats as Din plots an actual route. He glances over at the trooper who is exchanging glances with the kid. It seems to be a game of some kind so Din lets it slide and focuses on the maps. He spends a few minutes comparing planets before he sighed to himself and turns his chair to ask, “Do you have a preference on a planet to be dumped off on?”

The trooper blinks. “I guess anything that’s not a desert.”

The Mandalorian nods and turns to the maps again before the kid starts to fuss. Din turns to find the trooper looking apprehensive like Din will shoot him for making the kid upset. He just looks at the kid, checks the time and makes a guess that the kid is hungry. He grabs the box from under his seat and gives the kid some dried meat. He turns back to the screen but hears the telltale sound of the kid climbing out of his seat. He gives it a few seconds before the kid is cooing and then turns around to see the kid standing next to the troopers chair holding out the piece of meat. Din sighs. The trooper looks uncertain what to do, like he wants to humor the kid but knows that the Mandalorian would likely not approve of him even touching the kid.

“What are you doing?” He questions the kid who is now squeaking at him and the trooper. “Eat your food and stay in your seat.” He picks up the kid and keeps a comment about not trusting storm troopers to himself. If there is one thing this trooper is it is not a mindless empire fanatic.

The kid squeaks again and stares at Din with a furrow in his green brow that Din recognizes as annoyance. He sighs, grabbing the box of food and holds it out to the trooper. The man gives a questioning look before grabbing a piece of meat quickly with a nod. Din turns back to the front for a few minutes before he asks, “Why not go to your home planet?”

The trooper pauses for a second, likely to swallow, before answering. “I don’t really have a home. My father and uncle died on the Death Stars and my mother died long ago. I don’t even really remember my planet.” A soft wistful pause before the trooper spoke again. “At least, the only thing I really remember is playing in the snow with my mother and father before my mother died.”

Din silently agreed with the trooper. His home had never been a planet, but his parents and then the Mandalorians who had taken him in. “Where have you lived since then?”

“After my mother died I was moved to the pre-academy. It’s the program they use to take in orphans and soldier’s children who don’t have family still living on a planet. There was about a hundred kids in my group. We lived, learned, and worked together. All for the glory of the Empire.” A sarcastic tone had entered his voice. “Looking back I now realize it was just an indoctrination program to make sure kids didn’t grow up resentful of the Empire and rebel later on. It wasn’t all bad though. My father and uncle visited a few times a year and I was moved into the trooper academy when I was fifteen.”

They sat in silence before Din made a comment. “You sure do like to talk a lot.”

The trooper chuckled. “I guess. I’ve always been that way but, this is gonna be weird, something about you and the kid makes it easy to talk. Which is weird because you don’t talk, at least not to me, and as far as I’ve heard the kid can’t talk yet.”

The kid made a point then to start fussing again but it was clear he was now tired and just wanting attention. The Mandalorian reaches over and picks the kid up, nestling it into the crook of his arm before turning to the front again. A few minutes pass with the kid’s quiet breathing is the only sound before it calms and falls asleep. The Mandalorian speaks a few minutes later, breaking the silence. “You should try to sleep. It’ll be a while till the next planet.”

The trooper doesn’t answer but a while later soft sounds of breathing fill the cockpit and the Mandalorian is left flying to their new destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to keep this as one book! That'll make it easier. 
> 
> Beta'd by the amazing @Hart_Attack22 !!!


	3. A Silent Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corin fills the first day of inter-planetary travel with conversation.

When the trooper wakes up, Din informs him that their destination is two days away. This gets him a soft, almost sad smile and a nod.

“What are the plans once we get there?” The Trooper is sitting in the cargo hold watching Din do inventory. Despite his not complete distrust of the other, Din wasn’t planning on leaving the trooper out of his sight for very long.

“Getting you some other clothes because wearing that armor will only get you killed. After that you’re on your own.” Din counts the meal rations and is relieved that they have plenty to reach the next planet.

The trooper nods. “Thank you. Again. I’d be dead if you hadn’t helped.”

Din grunts a reply as he shifts a crate over. The kid comes toddling into view and makes his way towards the trooper. The man seems to freeze at the sight but quickly melts under the kid’s gaze. “Hey there little one.”

The kid squeals with joy and races closer to the trooper. Din catches the panicked look flashed his way, but when he does nothing to stop the kid from grabbing and climbing up into the other’s lap, the trooper relaxes and starts to play with the kid. It’s an adorable sight and Din quickly turns away to finish inventory and start on some repairs.

This goes on for a few hours, with Din popping up into the cockpit to check the course a few times, the kid gets fussy and the Trooper and the kid eat a near silent meal with no conversation exchanged between the adults. After that the child needs a nap and that leaves the two men with nothing to divide their attention from the glaring fact they don’t really get along and are stuck on a small ship together.

The trooper sits fidgeting for an hour before getting up with a sigh and walking closer to where Din is working. He looks over the Mandalorian’s shoulder and starts to wordlessly pass tools over when Din needs them. Without being told.

Eventually, when Din does need a different tool than the one offered to him, he has an opening to ask a question; “I thought you said you were only a hobby mechanic?”

A shrug. “My hobby just happened to be the basics of space flight engines and their support systems. You’re missing a lot of the finer wiring that most modern ships have. Is that just a part of the older ship model or did the Jawas take it?”

Din sighed. Right. This trooper was talkative. “The  _ Razor Crest  _ doesn’t have a lot of the ‘fine wiring’ but the Jawas took what it did have. I got it running but it isn’t stable. Hence, the repairs.”

A nod. “What do you have for spare parts?” A tool was passed over.

“Not nearly enough. Had a mechanic look at in on Tatooine few weeks ago and she got a lot done but it wasn’t enough. Haven’t had a chance to stock up on spares.” Din fiddled with some wiring before hissing at the slight electric shock. That wasn’t good; If he’d felt it through his gloves that wire was not meant to be touched with bare skin.

A pair of insulated pliers was pushed into his hand. “How must conservative wiring did you do after the Jawas?”

Din gave a questioning noise at the unfamiliar term. He knew how to keep the Razor Crest running, he had almost no other mechanical knowledge.

“Did you have wire to spare or were your wires pulled tight?” The inquisitive tone made Din pause before answering.

“Different amounts for different types. The connective hyper drive wire was a bit scarce but it worked. The main issue is structural integrity and surviving wear and tear.”

Another nod. “What are the other issues?”

Din barely pauses before beginning to list off the different areas he has on his mental to do list. The list of tiny things that add up to a bigger problem are seemingly endless but all the while the trooper just sorts through Din's tool kit. When the list is finished, the trooper grabs a handful of tools and walks over to the next area Din was planning to fix. It's not far away, Din can still see everything he's doing, but the trooper is just up and voluntarily fixing his ship.

Din does  _ not _ understand Storm Troopers.

\------

Later, once the kid wakes up. Din charges the trooper with watching the kid and goes up to check the ships course and make any adjustments. When he returns the trooper is trying to act casual while simultaneously frantically searching every part of the ship. Murmurs of, “ _ Please,” _ and wishes for the kid to come out where he can be seen, reach Din’s ears and he has to fight back a laugh. He’s pretty sure he knows where the kid is hiding but watching the trooper panic is almost therapeutic.

When the trooper notices his presence, he freezes and shuffles in place nervously sweating. “I swear I only took my eyes off of him for a second.” The trooper looks ready to fight for his life in the face of a scolding from the Mandalorian.

Din just walks over and pries open the panel to the smuggling compartment the kid is fond of for some reason. He doesn’t question how the kid gets in there. Not anymore. “What have I told you about crawling in there? It’s for smuggling goods. Not kids.” Scolding the womp rat feels like a futile task but letting the kid run lawless isn’t going to happen either.

The trooper sags in an obvious manner with relief. He suddenly tenses and glares accusingly. “You knew where he was right away didn’t you!”

With a slight shrug and he bounces the kid in his arms before putting it back on the ground. “He’s done it before.”

An eye-roll. “Yeah, I got that.” A soft fond smile crosses the man’s face. “He really is a cute kid.” A pause. “What’s his name?”

Din barely pauses before answering, ignoring the small twinge he feels, “Womp Rat.”

The glare he gets is hilarious and nearly enough to make him snort out loud and forget the negative feelings creeping in.

“Seriously. I just keep calling him, ‘Kid’ in my head, what is his name?”

“He doesn’t have one.”

The incredulous look he gets is once again one of the funniest things he has ever seen and it valientely fights against the negativity.

“Of course he has a name. Everyone does.” And that comment does not hit Din is a painful soft spot in his chest. It does not remind him of all the things he will likely never know about the kid. It  _ doesn’t. _

The bitter reply makes him only feel better for as long as it takes to say it. “Oh and then what’s your name? Or don’t you Troopers only go by numbers.”

The trooper bristles in momentary shock before giving a mocking salute full of passive anger. “Corin Valentis, son of former Admiral Valentis and Technician Valentis. Also known as Storm Trooper CT-113 of Alpha Company, reports as ordered,  _ sir.”  _ The last word is spit out with venom that makes Din almost flinch.

Corin holds Din’s gaze for a few seconds before the seepage of fear at what he’s just done becomes visible in his eyes. Din breaks the gaze and turns back to climb up the ladder. He throws a phrase over his shoulder.

“Twenty-seven hours till our destination. Corin.” And then he’s gone up the ladder. Purposefully leaving the kid below.

\------

It takes two hours before Corin brings the kid up into the cockpit. The kid is placed in his chair and Din passes over the kid’s favorite toy. They sit in silence for a few minutes before Corin clears his throat.

"I'm sorry. It wasn't okay for me to snap like that. I'm sorry Mandalorian, it won't happen again."

Din doesn't turn around. He weighs his options. The next twenty-five hours could be miserably tense and silent or he could attempt to make amends.

"You are forgiven. I was out of line. The subject of the kid's name is difficult."

A simple, "Why?"

Din breathes deeply but commits to sharing this piece of his culture and his vulnerable connection to it. He doesn’t just tell this to anyone. The last one he told was Paz and that was way before their last fight. But something about this trooper, about Corin, makes him vulnerable and willing to share the things he has buried in his heart for years.

"I don't know his name. I don't know where he came from. I don't know if he has a family. I don't know if there is anyone searching for him that misses him." A shuddering breath. "I was not born a Mandalorian. My parents were killed by separatist droids during the war. I was saved by a Mandalorian and taken in as a foundling. I only knew my first name at the time. It wasn't till years later that I found the information that had my full name and the names of my parents." He tightened his grip on the ships controls. "During my time in the Mandalorians, my savior offered to adopt me into her clan and give me her name. But I couldn't accept. My name was what connected me to my parents who had sacrificed their lives to protect me." He turned and brushed a finger over the kids ears. The kid cooed sadly.

He looked over at Corin whose face was pale and shocked. Corin whispered, "You won't take his name from him if he has one."

Din nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat. "He's fifty year old. Who knows what his mental development is. He may not be able to speak in a way we can understand but he could have a name that he knows is his. With his powers there is so much about him that is a mystery. I don't want to dismiss that part of his history when it was so important to me."

The kid cooes and Din pulls him into his lap. The kid lays his head against the Mandalorians chest.

Corin watches sadly. "In the academy they try to erase your sense of identity. You are a single unit. One small piece in a larger machine, a piece that is easily replaced if you don't perform correctly."

Corin stands up and heads toward the ladder. "I think you'll know if you've found the right name for him if you give it time."

The Mandalorian watches Corin leave. The kid tugs on his armor and he doesn't even have to look down to see the kids eyes and know what he's trying to tell him.

"Din Djarin."

Corin startles and his face is crossed with shocked before transforming into a wide beaming smile.

"Nice to meet you Din. My name's Corin."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have beta readers now! Lovely people who help keep me sane! @MissTeaVee helped with this chapter!


	4. Touch a Wrist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More travel and then an electrifying touch.

When it came time for the ship’s inhabitants to eat again, Din left Corin and the kid to eat in the cargo hold. He grabbed a ration packet and went up into the cockpit, locked the door, and ate quickly before returning to checking the course. They had eighteen hours till they reached their destination - a quiet planet that wasn’t a desert. He had been tempted to pick one, out of spite, but in the end had picked one that was mostly forest and mountains. He stared at the navigation instruments and watched as his eyes slowly blurred. He had only caught short naps in his chair. He hadn’t actually  _ slept  _ since the night before they rescued Corin.

They’d been flying for 32 hours and Din had been awake for almost 40. He had slept maybe a total of four hours in short naps since. He wasn’t sure if he could make it without at least a longer nap

When Corin climbed up into the cockpit with the kid, Din was seriously weighing his options. He turned to face Corin and watched him put the kid into his chair. He spun back around and checked the navigation again. There shouldn’t be anything to even possibly cause an issue for the next few hours. They were far into the dead of space at the moment. No planets or even an inhabitable moon for hours. He had set the autopilot to navigate around a few stars. There was no reason why he couldn’t go take a nap actually lying down instead of in his chair. 

Besides the fact that would leave Corin  _ alone, _ with the kid and his ship. 

Din could admit he was starting to trust the other man. The easy nature about him. How he interacted with the kid. The kid’s reaction to him. His skills as a mechanic. Corin had fixed over half the issues on the ship in a much shorter time than Din would have been able to. Din was tempted to make Corin check out the engines before they parted ways.

But it was Corin in general that was disarmingly trustworthy. His open demeanor. The man wore his feelings on his face, obviously used to having a helmet to hide behind. The way he filled the air with idle stupid chatter about the repairs they were doing. Comments about the kid and asking questions he didn’t seem to want answers to. It was like the man just had to say everything that came to his mind.

Din had come to know Corin closer than half the Mandalorians he was acquainted with! He knew of Corin’s belief in good and bad luck. Had started to pick up on his self-deprecating streak. Was baffled at how the man constantly understated his own skills.

At this point, it was honestly stupid to not trust Corin to watch the navigation for a few hours. Din sighed and did a final check before standing up. Corin looked up at him. 

“I need to get some sleep. Watch the navigation and controls for a few hours.” Corin nodded in a stunned manner, like he couldn’t believe he was being trusted either. “Wake me up if anything,  _ anything,  _ goes wrong.”

Corin immediately nodded again. “How long do you want to sleep?”

Din paused. Corin’s assumption that he wouldn’t need to be woken up for something going wrong was reassuring. “Four hours.” Any longer and he wouldn’t be comfortable not reading the navigation and knowing about anything that might pop up in their path.

Corin gave him a thumbs up. “I’ll try and keep him up here.” A head nod towards the kid. “No promises though. He’s a slippery bugger.”

Din chuckled before dropping down the ladder.

If he missed the shocked whisper of, “I guess he likes some of my jokes,” then that was his own problem. Din was only concerned with getting his armor off and getting some sleep.

\-----

Corin shared a look with the kid. “You heard him laugh too, right?”

The kid just smiled at him and Corin returned it. He had really bonded with the little one over the past day and a half. Games of hide and seek, tag, and toys had filled the time Corin wasn’t working on repairing the ship. He just talked to and interacted with the little one.

The kid would attempt to respond but it was most just coos and giggles. Corin was getting better at reading his moods from his facial and ear movements. He had asked Din about the kid’s speech capabilities and gotten a sad shrug. Corin had realized he had brushed too close to the sore topics but had been surprised when he got a response.

Din had mentioned how the kid would sometimes mimic syllables and the like from when he had spent some time with a group of village children on Sorgan. The kid could understand them and others well enough to play games with the other children so that wasn’t a concern, but as far as being able to talk in a complete word-and-sentence structure, Din wasn’t sure.

Corin had then spun off in a tangent about languages and had gotten a brief introduction to Mando’a, the language of the Mandalorians. Din had mentioned it in passing when listing different languages he knew and Corin had asked about it since he hadn’t recognized it. Learning that the Mandalorians had their own language shouldn’t have been a shock but it was, slightly, and it was interesting. He had asked if Din was planning on teaching it to the kid and gotten a tense shrug. Din hadn’t elaborated and Corin let it drop, instead starting up a commentary on if droids and ships actually spoke the same language or if droids could just understand fellow technology. And if, by extension, it was possible for someone to learn the language of a ship.

Corin smiled at the memory of that conversation from a few hours ago. He picked the kid up out of his seat and sat both of them in the pilot chair so he could see all the monitors. He checked everything over and noted the coordinates Din had set. He was absolute rubbish at navigation and would have had no idea where those coordinates led if Din hadn’t mentioned the planet’s name offhandedly.

The kid was reaching for the knob of a handle and Corin had to grin. The short story of how that had become the kid’s favorite toy was hilarious. He carefully unscrewed the shiny ball without moving the lever and passed it to the kid who squealed with joy. He smiled and looked into the starry expanse of space. He noted the time and planned for the next four hours. He would make sure to keep things going smoothly so that Din could get some sleep.

He had begun to wonder if Din really was human underneath that helmet. He never seemed to sleep, rarely ate, and when he did he took small amounts of food with him into the cockpit. His voice and accent were human-sounding, but you never knew. There were lots of species who had similar body shapes to humans but had different skin colors and other internal differences. 

Corin was glad the man was taking the time to sleep. He had been shocked at being trusted to watch the ship at all, let alone for four hours. He swore to himself that he would make sure to prove Din right in trusting him.

\------

When Din first awoke to the tapping on the door to his bed compartment he startled awake, but the tapping wasn’t urgent so he relaxed before sitting up. “I’m awake.” He stifled a yawn.

“Good. It’s been four hours. I fed the kid and he fell asleep about an hour ago.”

Din made a sound of acknowledgement as he stretched and put his armor back on. He hadn’t taken everything off, just his chest and back plates and his helmet. He tugged at his shirt below his armor but it was ruffled and pulled funny now. He wasn’t too concerned with it so he opened the door and got out. Corin was standing there waiting for him. He gave Din a smile and a small wave.

“Sleep good?”

Din nodded and stretched more now that he was out of the compartment. The sleep had been what he needed to get them to the next planet. Corin seemed to momentarily freeze but shook his head slightly before gesturing towards an open panel.

“I was planning on working on that section of wiring and transmitters now that you’re awake but it runs the risk of cutting superficial power to the cabin lights if I screw up. The engine will keep running and nothing like that will be affected but we could be stuck in the dark for a bit if I mess up.” Din scowled slightly at how Corin repeated that he would likely mess up. Corin had yet to mess up anything more serious than dropping a tool into a wall compartment that took a few minutes to fish out.

He walked over to where Corin was standing and checked over the tools and few spare parts Corin had laid out. He nodded his approval and Corin grinned. Din reached for something but suddenly his hand was caught in Corin’s. He startled slightly but then froze.

Corin’s gaze was locked on an exposed band of skin between his glove and shirt sleeve. Corin turns his hand over so the Din’s palm is facing up and just keeps staring at it until Corin’s thumb lightly brushed against Din’s skin. Din can barely breathe but he can feel his heart pounding in his chest. He hadn’t had skin on skin contact with another person in such a long time that he couldn’t even remember. Litta dressing his wounds didn’t count, since he was unconscious when that happened and had no recollection of it.

The soft caress as Corin ran his fingers over Din’s wrist was nothing short of electrifying and set Din’s pulse off like he had sparks running through his veins. But he couldn’t pull away. Not because Corin’s grip was tight, but because he couldn’t bring himself to break the contact. The ache in his heart was strange and confusing but he  _ couldn’t make himself pull away. _

Corin suddenly startled and looked up at Din. Shock and fear filled the man’s eyes. He suddenly pulled away and started to blurt and mutter random strings of _“_ sorry” mixed in with other words Din couldn’t catch, but Corin was blushing and it was a sight that continued making Din’s heart beat rapidly. The flustered man fled to the other side of the ship and started to frantically and determinedly work on a panel.

Din numbly turned around and climbed up the ladder. By the time he threw himself into the pilot chair his face was impossibly stretched in a smile as his heart continued to hammer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love my betas! @super_fast_jelly_fish helped me with this chapter! So my chapters 3 and 4 took over 3k words to cover the same amount of time that LadyIrina covered in 300.... you people signed up for this. For the love of MANDORIN!


	5. A Single Shot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A single shot. Or two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's angst time and you have been warned.

As they neared landing time Din braved the cargo bay. They had three hours till they landed and Din couldn’t let the _moment_ go. He had run his own fingers over his wrist, lost in the thought and memory the touch.

He did not understand Corin.

The talkative ex-trooper had risked everything for him and the kid. Sure he might have been saving his own life at first but he had every opportunity to turn and betray them. When Din had slept he could have changed the course or called in imperial reinforcements. But he didn’t. Instead he had played babysitter and watched the navigation dutifully.

Din had snagged another half hour nap in his chair and few hours ago and didn’t know if it was good or bad he didn’t remember what fleeting dream he had. But as he descended the ladder, he turned around to be greeted with the sight of Corin asleep on a bench with the kid sitting next to him and quietly playing with his assorted ‘toys’. The sleep schedules they kept in space were always chaotic and changing. Din’s one ‘night’ had been his four hour nap. For Corin, they had left the last planet in the late afternoon and Corin had slept a few hours in the passenger chair. Then there was a full day of kid watching and then repairing the ship.

Corin had likely slept after they had made amends after their disagreement. Maybe a few hours before waking up and eating with the kid. Then Din had slept and he severely doubted Corin would have slept during that same time frame. So if Din had kept track of the math right it would make sense for Corin to be sleeping now. It was the end of Corin’s second full day on the _Razor Crest_. It would be mid-afternoon on the planet when they landed so Corin grabbing some sleep now was a good thing.

The kid noticed his arrived a cooed happily before toddling over. He pick him up and the kid smiled. He really was too damned adorable. The kid slept whenever he felt like when they were off planet. It sometimes translated to strange periods of wake and sleep whenever they made landfall but Din had grown used to it over the past five months.

Corin murmured softly in his sleep and Din froze. He suddenly realized that standing here quietly while the other slept was rather strange. The strange tightness in his chest when he watched Corin sleep peacefully wasn’t a feeling Din was used too. He knew about the strange wonder-like feeling he got when he watched the kid do something as simple as managing to sleep through a bit of rough flying, but this was different. And he didn’t have a clear name for it.

The kid mumbled a bit of gibberish and reached a hand out towards Corin, the man stayed asleep and the kid babbled again while looking up at Din. The words weren’t real but Din understood.

“Yeah,” he quietly whispered, “I don’t want him to go either.”

\------

Corin woke with a jolt when the ship shook slightly. He stood up quickly but nearly fell over. He shouted, “What’s going on!”

There was some muffled yells coming from the cockpit, Corin stumbled through the small shakes. When he got into the cockpit the kid was squaeling with glee and laughing. Din grunted and wrestled with the controls a bit.

“What’s happening?” He grabbed the back of Din’s chair and looked at all the instruments.

“Something with a stabilizer and this planet’s atmosphere. It’s nothing.” A head tilt. “Did it wake you up?”

“Yeah, but I’m good.” Corin stood watching Din work the control systems as the sky in front of them cleared and the planet came into view. It was a green forest plane with lots of open spaces and clearings. Din directed the ship toward a town and got access to a landing zone. Corin drooped into his seat for the actual landing but was soon up and moving down to the cargo hold once Din shut off the engines. He rifled through the tool kit and had his chosen weapons ready by the time Din had the ramp open.

Corin took off and made his way towards the aforementioned external stabilizers. He saw the damage and groaned. That was damage that would take a few hours to fix. It wasn’t bad but it was a delicate part of a ship that could travel in and out of atmosphere.

Corin stuck his head into the open panel to get a closer look at the damaged wires and was startled at a sudden, “Corin?” He jolted and accidentally hit the side of his head on the metal. He groaned and stood up straight to look at Din.

“Yeah?” Corin rubbed at the sore spot and grimaced. That would leave a nice bump.

“Watch the kid while I head to the market.” Din was standing at the base of the ramp with the kid next to him.

Corin gave a sarcastic salute and a nod at the orders. Din had eased up a lot on his direct manner of ordering Corin around but the occasional “no questions, just do what I say,” statement happened and Corin would just internally laugh at the differences between Din and his previous commanding officers. Corin had gotten a lot of good luck where Din and the kid were concerned. Din obviously wasn’t just going to throw him out of the ship and leave so that was nice.

It was the least he could do to look after the kid for a bit longer and work on the stabilizers before they parted ways. He would probably miss them but he had known it wouldn’t be a lasting arrangement. Not a lot of things were in his life.

The kid made his way over to where Corin was standing and started to play with some of the tools like he had over the past two days when ever Corin and Din were working on repairing the ship.

Din left towards the market and Corin squatted down to face the kid. “You wanna help me get this ship fixed up for your dad?” The kid squealed and raised its handful of tools up in the air. Corin laughed. He turns back to the panel and looks it over. He needs to weld a few things back together but there’s some wires to replace first.

He and the kid work on that for a bit. Corin mostly working with the kid helping by sitting on his shoulder or passing him tools, the incorrect ones but the kid was trying. Eventually when it came time to weld Corin headed back to grab his old helmet to use as a welding mask. He had been doing it before now, but never when Din was around. He didn’t want to give the other man a more present reminder of what he was. He ends up letting the kid hold his helmet and then the little one puts it on and is stumbling down the ramp after Corin. Corin can’t help but laugh. It is no wonder Din fell so hard for this kid and fights so hard to protect him.

The smile vanishes when there is a sudden movement hidden by the ships shadows. There a glint off metal, like the barrel of a weapon and Corin doesn’t even pause before he is charging the figure. As he slams into them he absently note that it’s a Nikto as they crash to the ground.

It suddenly a mad scramble of fists and feet. Niktos are stronger than human normally and Corin isn’t the strongest human to begin with. Corin has no armor on to absorb any of the hits but that doesn’t stop him. He grabs the Nikto’s chin, ignoring the horns digging into his palm, and shoves upwards to get the away for a moment. He spies a knife on the Nikto’s belt and lunges for it.

The kid is crying in the background but Corin can barely hear him over the roaring blood in his ears and the screaming urge to protect the child. The Nikto reaches for a blaster at its shoulder but Corin charges and barrels it over. They both go sprawling onto the ground. Corin lands near his pile of tools and grabs the welder. He fired it up and manages a searing swipe at the Nikto who screeches in pain before reaching for the blaster again. The Nikto gets one shot off that misses and Corin is launching himself at the Nikto. He drops the welder and manages to slam the knife into the Nikto’s lower neck just as another blaster shot goes off.

The Nikto is dead by the time it falls to the ground. Cori just stares at it and stares at the flecks of blood on his hand. The color on his hands matching the color bubbling out of its neck. The roar of the blood in his ears suddenly cuts out and he hears the sound of the kid crying. Corin gradually starts to process more outside stimulus besides the image of the dead Nikto. His head turns and the kid is crying and Coring stumbles over and pulls the kid into his arms and slumps onto the ramp with a dull metallic thump.

“Sshh.” Corin mumbles and rocks the child softly. He is barely holding his reaction at bay but the kid is more important than any freak out. He watches their surroundings with unblinking eyes and feels relief fill his high strung body at the sight of Din racing back into sight with a bag of supplies thrown over his shoulder and his blaster drawn.

Din’s movements seem to stutter before the man flings himself onto a knee next to Corin. Like this Din is at what would have been eye level if he hadn’t been wearing his helmet. Somethig about this situation is hilarious to Corin and his breathless and near hysterical laughter breaks past his lips.

“Corin? There’s a whole group of Niktos here. They’re hunting the kid. Corin? What’s wrong?”

He shakes his head. He doesn’t know. Something is but he doesn’t know what.

Suddenly the laughter gives way to mind numbing excruciating pain. Corin fights to keep a scream of pain in his throat but something must escape because Din is carefully removing the kid from Corins grip before making Corin lie back on the ramp.

Corin’s hands inch toward his stomach towards the source of the pain.

_Oh._ The Nikto had shot twice.

Din reached for his stomach and then curses. That can’t be good. Corin tries to sit up enough to raise his head to see it but that causing tearing agony and makes him arch in primal fear to try and get away from the source of his pain.

He’s not going to live through this. “Go.” The word is a growl through pants of pain but the shocked tension in Din’s shoulders is something Corin can read.

“ _What!”_ The shocked confusion and offended tone in Din’s voice makes Corin want to laugh.

“Go. I’m,” lancing pain through his chest, “not gonna,” the kid is whimpering and placing his hands on Corin’s shoulder, “make it.”

“Bullshit!” Din snarls. “I am not leaving you here!”

“You have,” Corin nearly bit through his lip, “keep the kid,” the pain is starting to fade slightly, “safe.” His eyesight starts to blur.

“Corin! Stay with me!” His hearing starts to ring. He thought he maybe heard the sound of a blaster but soon the word descends into blackness. But just before the inky depths claim him, he could have sworn he heard a single desperate cry, “Please!”


	6. A Mandalorian Medic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Din tries to save Corin.

Din couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. There was only panic.

He had somehow gotten Corin into the ship and got the ship off the ground but he didn’t know what to do. Corin needed a medic.

A thought crossed his mind;  _ what Corin needs is a miracle. _

They had to get off the planet but he didn’t know where he could get to fast enough to get Corin to a medic where they’d be safe from the Niktos following. He had some medical supplies, but not enough, or even the right ones, to fix a hole through the gut. He ripped his cape off and used it to staunch the wound, trying to tie it to apply pressure.

To his surprise, the kid started to press the wad of fabric down the way Din wanted. Not having time to think about this, Din rocketed into the cockpit and got the ship airborne. He set the autopilot to just get them away before nearly falling back down the ladder into the cargo bay where Corin lay.

The kid chirped in panic as Din knelt and nudged him out of the way. The fabric of his cape was already soaked in blood and the bleeding had barely slowed down. Din swore. It was bad. It was  _ so  _ bad but he couldn’t do anything more to stop it unless they got to a medic or got more supplies.

The kid started to whimper and cry and Din couldn’t do anything to make him feel better. It almost physically cut his chest to be so helpless, but he picked the little guy up and whispered, “I know. I know. I know. He’ll be okay. We’ll figure something out.”

The kid kept crying, trying valiantly to wiggle out of Din’s grip. Din numbly set the child down and watched as the kid leaned over to hold his hand over the bleeding hole in Corin stomach. A hole matched by a pit of despair in Din’s own.

The child whimpered again and then his eyes closed, brows furrowing in concentration. There was a soft flickering that followed the child’s breathing until it steadied, and a sliver of light danced through Corin’s flesh. It was slow. So,  _ so  _ slow, but the bleeding tapered away, the wound began to close on its own accord bit by bit.

Din was left mesmerized, taking some time to notice that the kid was left trembling—shaking where he stood, but determined all the same. Din placed his hands around the kid to hold him up, and the light brightened a little.

The wound was still nasty. Something that’d leave Corin immobile and in immense pain for days, if not weeks. By the time the child finally collapsed into Din’s hands, Din was sure Corin would live long enough to reach a medic. He pulled the kid into an embrace and whispered softly, “You did it. It’s okay. You saved him.” The kid mumbled something in response, but the exact sound was lost to his tiredness.

Din placed the kid down near Corin’s shoulder, where he slumped and rested his head against the injured man.

Din grabbed what medical supplies he had and bandaged Corin’s stomach. He applied the maximum amount of healing assistants that he had. No bacta. He would have given anything to have even a few drops of spray. Anything to help. When he had Corin bandaged, he left the kid where he now slept against Corin and climbed into the cockpit to set a new course.

They made it out of the atmosphere with almost no disturbances. Corin must have fixed the stabilizer. The thought drew all the adrenaline from Din’s body. The shock of what had happened started to descend but he fought to focus on the current task: getting them to a safe location so that Corin could heal.

There was one planet that was so off the radar it barely appeared as a speck on his map, with only its name listed. After an attempt to seek out more information in his ship’s limited database, he set course for Kerrco. It was just over fifty hours away if he pushed the  _ Razor Crest _ to maximum output. Anything closer had too much New Republic or Former Imperial presence to be safe. He grit his teeth. He could attempt a supply run somewhere closer to try and find some bacta, but that would delay getting to Kerrco by hours. Getting set up somewhere planet-side with a medic to oversee Corin was ideal, but if he could get even a small amount of bacta it would be worth it.

Din didn’t know how much the kid could heal, or if he was even doing it right, but it was clear he had more mysterious powers connected to the Force. Din had never heard of it being used to heal. Only to fight. Even Corin hadn’t known much about it besides the Empire’s propaganda against the Jedi and a whispered horror story about a trooper who had shown force sensitivity and never been heard from again.

He clenched his teeth and set the course to stop at a trade moon ten hours away. It was on course to Kerrco, but would delay them a few hours at a minimum. He remembered the image of a smiling Corin playing with the kid in the exact same spot where the injured Corin now lay and had nearly bled to death.

Din would do anything to save Corin.

\-----

Dying was supposed to be the end of pain, but here he was. Drifting in agony. He saw nothing but the occasional flash of light. Sometimes there were indistinct sounds. A baby crying? Someone murmuring his name? He couldn’t tell for sure. All he knew for certain was the pain.

\------

The kid was still sleeping next to Corin. He woke the kid up just long enough to feed him something, and then the little guy went right back to Corin and sat there resolutely, though his ears drooped with exhaustion. Din smiled, and told him to guard the sleeping man. Leaving them both in the ship defenseless like this was not something that sat well with Din. Thankfully, he could be in and out of the market in under an hour if he found a medical vendor right away.

Din felt confident that the kid would stay with Corin, and would probably drop right back off to sleep on his own. He set some food and water next to them and checked the locking system for any possible entrances to the interior of the ship. When he finally could not think of a way for anyone to get in (or out in the little one’s case), he left the ship quickly and walked towards the market as fast as he could without looking like he was running.

He tried to maintain an aura of, “Don’t get in my way or you’re dead and it will be all your fault.” For the most part, it worked. Common civilians nearly fell over to get out of his way. Those he pegged as mercenaries, hunters, former soldiers for both sides, and members of local or regional gangs were less likely to cower but still moved out of his way.

He didn’t find a medical vendor right away, but he had quickly snagged a few other supplies they would need since he hadn’t gotten time to completely restock on that Nikto infested planet. The few vendors that had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with him were quick to accept any price he offered them as long as it was even remotely fair. He was in and out of five different vendors in under twenty minutes before he found the medic vendor.

He killed the death aura and instead went with quietly annoyed. He had learned long ago that any sort of medical professional deserved respect if you wanted quality products for a good price. Otherwise you either got charged an outrageous amount or were as good as dead after being treated.

The Twi’lek boy at the counter was seemingly intimidated but knew his trade well enough to not cower.

“What can I do for you, Mandalorian?”

He looked the boy directly in the face. “Bacta, bandages, medical thread and needles, disinfectant, and pain medication.”

The boy nodded. “We don’t have a lot of bacta, and it won’t be cheap.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Credits were the least of his concern right now. Getting back to the ship with the supplies for Corin was what mattered.

Another nod. “What type? We have spray, gel, patches, and infused bandages.”

“Spray and bandages.” Corin’s wound was too big for patches, and the gel was more used for burns and cuts than gaping holes. Din ignored how his fists clenched at the memory of the sight of Corin bleeding out on the floor.

The boy put together Din’s order in record time. When it came time for the pricing the boy gave him one more look, shivered slightly and gave a price that was acceptable right away. Din gave an assenting nod at the total and dropped the credits on the counter.

Din left the shop and made a beeline back towards the  _ Razor Crest.  _ His projection of, “Out of my way,” was strong and the crowds parted around him. When he saw the  _ Crest  _ still in one piece, his sigh of relief was audible. He unlocked the ship, lowered the ramp, and entered quickly, shutting the ramp behind him.

The kid was still awake but drowsily leaning against Corin who was still unconscious. The kid cooed and reached out a hand when Din came close. He rubbed the kid’s head and let him grab at Din’s fingers for a few seconds before letting go so he could change Corin’s bandages. He had changed them a few times in the hours it took to get to the trade moon. The wound was scabbing over and still nasty to look at, but at least it wasn’t as life threatening anymore.

It looked way too good for how little time had passed. He looked at the kid who was watching him work with bleary eyes, Din sighed and rubbed the kids head. “You need to rest some, kid. He’ll make it, but I don’t think he’d be happy if you got hurt trying to heal him.”

The kid squeaked and stood up a bit straighter. Din sighed and rolled his eyes. “You did a good job. You saved his life. But now we have the medicine.”

The child huffed but watched as Din sprayed the bacta over the wound and then cut the infused bandages to the right length to cover Corin’s wound before wrapping his torso in regular bandages.

He had cut off the lower torso of Corin’s under-suit so he could get at the wound and wrap him in bandages. He had also shifted Corin onto a blanket instead of just the hard floor.

The minute and breathless groans he got as he had been moving and tending to Corin was haunting music to Dins ears. Proof that Corin wasn’t in a dangerous coma, just passed out in a deep, shock-induced sleep.

When he was done, he got up and rubbed the kids head before heading to the cockpit to take off for Kerrco. Forty-two hours to the backwater planet Din hoped would be their safe haven for even a few days.

That was all he could ask for at this point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by two amazing people! @super_fast_jelly_fish and @MissTeaVee ! I couldn't do this without them!


	7. Back to Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corin heals. And his moments of consciousness as told by his caretakers.

They were fifteen hours from Kerrco when Corin woke up. Fortunately, Din had been down in the cargo hold at the time and was able to keep Corin from doing anything rash when he woke up.

Corin was delirious and mumbling a mix of sounds and parts of words no sense but Din did his best to guess what Coin was after. He reassured him and tried to explain what had happened in a manner that made sense. Corin just kept murmuring and mumbling while trying to dig at the bandages covering his stomach. Din had to constantly grab Corin’s hands and pull them away.

He managed to get Corin to drink some water and a bit of broth but the man’s eyes were crossed while trying to look at Din and he smiled. Din managed to catch two words that made his heart constrict.

“Din… safe.” And then Corin’s eyes rolled back in his head as he faded back into unconsciousness.

Din just  _ looked  _ at Corin’s sleeping face and tried to process. He wasn’t successful, so he focused on what he could do He brushed a few fingers over Corin’s forehead and then got up off the floor. Corin’s limited movement had disturbed the bandages some so Din adjusted them, mindful not to pull too tight.

It was obvious that the pain medication that he’d given Corin was affecting the man’s thoughts. He’d have to take that into account when Corin woke up.

\------

When Corin woke next, his only Company was the baby. The little one squeaked in delight and stood up from where he had been sitting next to the injured man. He’d been waiting SO LONG, and other Daddy had climbed up top to push the buttons that made different places appear outside the door. He shoved his face close to this daddy’s face and cooed happily when there was recognition in those eyes.

Corin, his soft daddy, mumbled something but it didn’t make any sense to the little one. He was just glad he was awake and smiling again.

The kid patted Corin’s face before going to grab the cup of water that other Daddy had left on the floor. He tried to help the man drink some but ended up just spilling the water all over. It wasn’t a lot but it made a mess. He squeaked at the water touching his feet. Then laughed. It felt funny to be standing on the metal floor when it was wet. He splashed a little and smiled when his daddy smiled from where he was watching.

His Daddy lifted one of his arms and reached out to poke the little one in the stomach softly.

“Silly… kid.”

The green child squeaked but grabbed onto the offending hand. He was really happy his daddy was awake. Corin smiled and pulled his hand and the child a bit closer. It was slow and awkward but soon the little one was tucked next to his Daddy who had an arm wrapped around him. The little one cooed with happiness and was happy to stay there as Corin drifted off to sleep again.

\------

When Din came down to check on Corin and the kid, they had six hours till Kerrco. When he found the little one asleep with Coin’s arm around him and water spilled on the floor he just sighed but smiled under his helmet. Apparently Corin had woken up again and the kid had tried to tend to him.

Seeing to the soft smile on Corin’s face Din could guess that the kid’s presence was doing wonders to calm and reassure the injured man.

Din cleaned up the spilled water, checked Corin’s bandages for any sign of bleeding, and set the system to alert him of movement in the cargo bay. He traced a finger over the kid’s ear and brushed a few strands of hair off Corin’s forehead. There was a strange happiness in his chest at the sight of the two of them sleeping peacefully together.

It was odd, but he didn’t dislike the feeling.

\-------

Two hours before they would reach Kerrco, the motion sensors went off and Din was down the ladder in a moment. Corin was groaning and trying to sit up. Muscles tensed all over his body like he was trying to regain a sense of his form and the space he occupied. When Corin managed to fully clench and relax his fist Din slowly approached, not wanting to startle him. Corin’s head twitched in his direction but he didn’t fully turn his head.

“Corin?” He got a groan in response. He knelt down at the man’s side opposite the kid and placed his hand on Corin’s shoulder to reassure the other man of his presence. Corin’s eyes were screwed shut, against either the lighting or pain. Probably the pain, unfortunately. “Are you in a lot of pain?” Corin nodded and kept his eyes close.

Din sighed. Corin was due for another dose of the pain medication but if he gave him a full dose it would likely knock him back out or affect his coherency. “Can you open your eyes Corin?” A small shake of his head. “Please?” Corin groaned but cracked one eye open slightly before both eyes were fluttering open and closed. Rapidly blinking away the tired grit from being asleep.

“Din?” The name was full of confusion and relief.

“Yes. I’m here.”

Corin smiled. “Good.”

Din chuckled softly. “You’re okay Corin.”

Corin yawned slightly but flinched as the action likely pulled at his stomach muscles. “Hurts.”

Din sighed but he was just glad Corin was awake enough to hold a conversation, Even one as limited as this. “I bet it does. But if I give you more medicine you’ll fall asleep again.”

A whine from Corin. Din sadly ran a hand through Corin’s hair. “I’ll get you some in a bit, okay?”

A nod and, “Okay.”

“Do you want some water?” At Corin’s nod Din got him some water and then had Corin do small things to test that he had retained all motor function in his lower half. When Corin managed to pull his leg up into an angle and then relax it Din was reassured that Corin hadn’t suffered any lasting muscle damage.

Din then gave Corin a dose of the medication and the tired man dropped back off to sleep.

The child had slowly woken up when Din had Corin test his muscles and had sleepily watched until Corin was asleep again. Din got the child some food and told him they would reach Kerrco soon. The kid chirped and ate happily. Din went back up to prepare for landing.

\-------

They landed with no trouble and Din left the cockpit to find Corin awake again and letting the kid play with the fingers on his hand. Din paused at the bottom of the ladder and just watched the scene before him. It was so peaceful and caused a return of that strange contentment.

The kid looked up and chirped a greeting. Corin’s head turned to watch him approach. Corin gave a small smile, “Hi.”

Din couldn’t stop the snort of laughter and replied with a dry, “Hi.”

Corin chuckled uneasily. “That bad?” Din sat down and nodded. Corin winced slightly but sighed in resignation. “I figured.”

“How much do you remember?”

Corin’s face scrunched up a bit. “Fighting the Nikto and being worried about the kid. You showed up then right?”

Din nodded. “You were shot.” Din softly poked a few inches away from the wound in Corin’s gut. “You almost bled out.”

Corin winced again. “Sorry.”

Din immediately snapped his gaze to meet Corin’s and scanned his face. The idiot was actually apologizing for almost dying!

“Do not apologize for getting hurt!” He scolded and then sighed. “You saved the kid. Saving you was the least I could do.”

Corin winced at the scolding and changed the topic. “We just landed right? Where are we?”

“A backwater planet called Kerrco. We should be able to lie low here for a while.”

“We?” Did Corin really think that he would just leave him behind, now? After everything? Din was again baffled by how little Corin seemed to understand about the relationships he had built between them. Din did not make friends easily. Din especially did not talk to anyone he didn’t like. He had spoken to Corin more in the days prior than he had talked to any other person in years. Sorgan with Cara and Omera were the only others who had even come close. But even then his comments were sparse and for a reason. The idle chatter and story sharing they had done while working on the ship was something he just didn’t do with anyone else. Corin was fast becoming his friend and they owed each other too much to not count on one another.

“Of course we’re staying. You aren’t in any shape to be left on your own. And I wouldn’t leave a friend stranded like that.”

Corin’s eyes readily told Din about his shock. “A friend?”

“You don’t really think I was just talking to you to humor you? I enjoy your company and the kid likes you.”

Corin spluttered and dropped his head into his pillow. The muttered, “Mandalorians make no sense,” did not make Din grin. The fact he had thought that about Corin multiple times did not make him smug. Not at all.

The kid cooed and placed his hand on Corin’s face before letting out a string of babble that Din took as the kid repeating what he had said. Corin looked between the two others before smiling softly.

Din got up at that point. “I’m going to go find a place to stay. You two stay here.” Corin wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon so he leveled his stare at the kid who chirped indignantly and grabbed at the remains of Corin’s under-suit.

“We’ll stay here.” Corin smiled and rubbed the top of the kids head. Din smiled behind his helmet and left.

\------

Corin watched Din walk away before the ramp closed. He had seen forest outside and was glad it wasn’t a desert. The kid cooed and Corin turned back to face the little one who had been keeping him company.

“You think I can sit up?” The kid glared at him. “I’ll take that as a no.”

He was still tired and in pain but he was feeling really good all things considered. He should probably be dead. Actually he should definitely be dead now that he thought about it. He had organized the available medical supplies on the ship at one point and knew there hadn’t been any bacta on board. Bacta was expensive no matter where you went and to get it under the radar like the Mandalorians would probably get it would cost even more.

Corin eyed the little child. “You did something didn’t you?” The kid chirped happily and Corin took that as confirmation. He’d seen the child regularly float things three times its size and multiple times its weight, not to mention saving him from falling into the crevice. What little he knew about the Force led to an unknown amount of possibilities. Healing abilities would be strange but were well within the range of things Corin was willing to believe.

They played simple games that Corin could do while still lying on the floor.He had successfully taught the kid how to play an altered version of ‘Rock, Paper, Scissor’ after some effort. It was adorable to watch the kid try his hardest to play the game correctly even if it was difficult since he only had three fingers. By the time Din got back, the kid had even won a couple rounds.

“Hey, find anything?” Corin asked. Din sighed and sat down on the floor. Corin wondered why the Mandalorian kept sitting on the floor when there was a perfectly fine bench only a few feet away.

“No. There’s a festival in the town and there’s no place to stay for at least a week.” Din shoulders were hunched in a manner that suggested he was holding something back.

“But?” Corin decided to cut the intermediate silence off before it grew too long.

“I was offered a job. It’s in the next village over. They need protection from a gang leader of some kind who is making them pay tribute. They have a place for us to stay and it’s a way to earn some money.”

“Then let’s do it.” Corin had no hesitation. He may have been injured but he could still help. He wouldn’t be a burden to Din and the little one.

“Corin.” It was a reproach to consider the fact he was injured. Cori snorted. Like he’d forgotten.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Corin you can’t even sit up.”

“So help me!” He got a helmeted glare. “I’m serious. It hurts but I can’t stay lying down. Help me sit up.”

Din sighed but extended a hand for Corin to grab. With a determined look he did and braced himself as Din slowly pulled and lifted him up.

It hurt. By everything in the universe it hurt but he wouldn’t stay useless on his back.

Eventually he was up. His breathing was labored and he could feel the sweat on his forehead but he still smiled up at Din in an ‘I told you so.’ “See,” a breath, “I’m fine.”

Din sighed and shook his head in disbelief. “Sure you are. But you are not standing up and that is final.”

Corin grimaced at the thought of standing up. That did not sound pleasant. “Deal.” He considered something. “How are we getting to the village?”

Din swore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by the amazing @MissTeeVee ! She is amazing and helped me so much with the problem areas in this chapter ie: Baby Yoda's pov.


	8. In a Village

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting Corin off the ship isn't as easy as it sounds. Especially not when Din is being overprotective.

Getting to the village was easy, they just waited till nightfall and moved the ship nearer. Getting Corin off the ship wasn’t as easy.

“Let me try to stand up.”

“No.”

“I’m not even in pain.”

“That’s the medication.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I can’t stay in the ship.”

“You won’t.”

“Then how am I getting out?”

“I’m working on it.”

“Of course you are.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You keep saying you’re working on it, but nothing’s changing.”

“Because I’m still working on it.”

“You’re being ridiculous. I can stand up long enough to get out of the ship.”

“Again, pain medication.”

“Ridiculous, I’m fine.”

“No. You are not. You can’t even sit up on your own.”

“I can too!”

“Then do it.”

“But I’m already sitting up.”

“Then lay down and get back up.”

“Why would I do that?”

“To prove you’re  _ fine.” _

“I am fine! I don’t need to prove it.”

“Obviously you are not fine. You are just impatient.”

“ _ Impatient _ ! I am not impatient!”

“Then wait while I work on a solution!”

Silence. Din sighed and went back to working on the stretcher. Corin was getting increasingly restless as time wore on and wanted to have something to do, but Din wouldn’t let him do anything except entertain the kid from where he was sitting, propped up with every pillow and blanket on the ship. The locals had been confused about why he was taking so long, but revealing Corin in his injured state didn’t sit well with Din. 

“What are you working on?” Corin was quieter now, probably having realized he was getting ridiculous with his demands.

“A stretcher.” Din fastened one last piece together and looked it all over. It was a bit crude but it would get Corin safely to the inn without jostling him around too much. He was healing at an amazing speed, but his injury wasn’t something to be taken lightly. Without the bacta, Din wouldn’t have even let Corin sit up. Din had scolded the kid into not exhausting himself in order to heal Corin, but he was sure the kid was still doing as much as he could get away with. The kid was a little too complacent with still being stuck in the ship to not be more tired than normal.

“I’m going to have to lay down in it?”

Din nodded without looking at Corin. “If you sit up it will be unbalanced.”

“It hovers?”

“Yes.”

A few mutters that were almost unintelligible but Din caught the words “stupid” and “Mandalorian” a few times. He grinned behind his helmet. Annoying and teasing Corin was becoming an increasingly pleasant pastime. When he managed to truly fluster the other into a blushed and stuttering mess, he felt some of that strange happiness. Being able to see all of Corin’s reactions and emotions was fascinating to him.

Din shrugged off the emotions and got back to work momentarily. He positioned the stretcher next to Corin and was faced with a new dilemma: How to actually get Corin onto the stretcher?

When he realized how to do it, he was forever thankful that his helmet hid his face and the flustered mess his features were becoming. The Mandalorians weren’t a touch-averse people, but non-combative contact was usually limited to close friends or family, and even then it was passing touches on arms and shoulders, maybe a hug between parents and siblings. Paz was the touchiest Mandalorian Din had ever met and that stemmed from his habit of just throwing an arm around his friends shoulders.

He cleared his throat a little before instructing Corin, “Put your arms around my neck.”

Corin’s eyes went wide and his face flushed, “What?!”

Din choked back his embarrassment and tried to keep his voice level. “I have to lift you up to get you on the stretcher.”

Corin flushed and looked away before nodding. He reached out his arms and Din noticed the slight wince when he grabbed around Corin’s waist to lift him up. The feeling of Corin’s weight settling into his arms did things to his heart that he couldn’t process. Din shifted and leaned forward to set Corin on the stretcher. Corin’s fingers were digging into his back and neck and it was distracting to the point that even after Corin’s weight was settled onto the stretcher, Din didn’t let go. His face was right in front of Corin’s. Corin was right there and Din found it hard to breathe.

Corin gazed into Din’s visor and he could feel their gazes connected through the barrier. Corin’s eyes were asking something that Din didn’t know how to answer.

He slowly pulled away. His arms drifted away from Corin’s waist. His fingers brushed against the bandages and Corin gasped.

Din snatched his fingers away like he had been burnt. “Sorry!”

Corin spluttered and shook his head. “No! It,” Corin scrambled for words, “It didn’t hurt.”

Din was still pulling away when Corin caught his hand and Din’s entire world stopped as he replayed the scene from that day that seemed so long ago, but had happened only four days ago. Corin’s grip on his hand tightened and pulled it close, placing Din’s hand on his stomach.

“It doesn’t hurt.” Corin’s muscles fluttered as he spoke and Din gulped. Corin let his hand ease away but didn’t let go.

When Corin’s thumb brushed against his exposed skin once again, Din nearly choked. The touch was electric and make his blood roar in his ears. Corin’s thumb innocently brushed against his pulse point and Din’s sense of awareness shattered and reformed a hundred times in an instant.

This wasn’t normal. He shouldn’t be reacting like this. Just touching another human shouldn’t cause this. Din couldn’t explain it but he didn’t know if he would like the answer when he got it. For now he knew that whatever this was, was caused by something special. And Din was so fucking clueless about what to do about it.

\-------

Corin watched the night sky as they made their way into the village. His heart had slowed by the time they had left the ship and was now preoccupied with trying not to relive what happened. Oh universe, he had been so stupid! Of course Din had been tense and awkward after what he did! He probably just broke like six different Mandalorian customs about touch and etiquette. Din probably was trying to rationalize reasons to not kill Corin for overstepping every boundary line ever! The kid squeaked and smacked Corin’s chest from where he sat on Corin’s ribs. The kid didn’t weigh anything so he wasn’t an annoyance but the physical weight was an ironic companion to the figurative weight he felt in his chest.

Corin thumped his head back. He started to hear more sounds of activity as they left the forest they had hidden the ship in. Eventually they made it to the inn and were greeted with smiles. Or at least it seemed like smiles, Corin was  _ still  _ lying down so he couldn’t tell but the people seemed happy.

“What happened to your companion?”

Din was about to speak before Corin cut in with a heavy dose of sass. “The companion got shot and the helmet is being overprotective. I could have walked.”

“No, you couldn’t.”

“Yes, I could.”

“You can barely sit up.”

“But once I’m up I’m fine!”

Din sighed like the entire universe was acting against him. The woman giggled. Corin couldn’t really see her and what he could was, again, from the perspective of lying down. “So you travel together?”

Din answered. “Yes.”

“I’ll get a room for you two.”

It took a few minutes but soon they were being transferred into a room, with another awkward and mind-shattering transfer onto the bed. Corin was barely keeping his breathing under control when he felt the muscle of Din’s shoulders under his hands and the grip of Din’s arms around his waist. When Din pulled back slowly, Corin didn’t want to let go. But he did let go and Din stepped away before picking up the kid and placing him into the crib that M’Jau had found for the room.

Corin really wanted to change clothes and use the bathroom. Not being able to move had made for an embarrassing situation for using the bathroom but Din had been a professional and that had just been a blip in the stream of the time since Corin had woken up. He was still wearing his slashed and dirty under-suit. The jacket Din had given him initially had gotten blood on it, so Corin had been covered with a blanket on the stretcher.

Corin was now propped up against the wall and watching as Din came and went with the supplies they’d need in the room. The kid was tiredly watching and was fighting falling asleep, but the little guy was tired. Corin was making faces at the kid whenever Din wasn’t there but since Corin couldn’t get up the kid stayed in the crib. He had tried to climb out a few times but Corin had scolded him and told him to stay put.

Eventually, Din had what they needed transferred into the room and looked around before groaning.

“Forget something?” Corin was tired and wanted to sleep, Din going in and out of the room was keeping him awake.

Din exasperated sigh was almost comical. “How have you not realized?”

“Realized what?” Corin took stock of the room. It was decent sized, a large bed, the crib, and a dresser. It now had their bags of supplies, but he honestly couldn’t figure out what was wrong.

“Never mind, I’ll sleep on the floor.” Din crossed to rummage through their bags but Corin interrupted him.

“Why would you do that? I barely take up a third of the bed.”

Din slowly turned to look at him and Corin could feel the incredulity radiating off of him. It suddenly dawned on him and Corin wanted to smack himself in the face. Din seemed to read the sudden understanding and gave a huff.

A few seconds of silence. “We can still share. You need the sleep.” Din tried to interject but Corin cut him off. “I know you do. How many hours have you slept since that nap you took?”

The Mandlorian visibly winced. “Fine. We’ll share. But first I need to check your bandages.”

Corin nodded and Din found the supplies. Corin’s bandages had been changed once since he woke up, about ten hours ago, so it was reasonable to change them before they slept. When Din came and sat on the edge of the bed next to Corin, the tense atmosphere made a sudden reappearance but Corin wasn’t going to let that happen. He raised his arms up so Din could unwind the bandages and started up a round of completely pointless conversation about what he had seen of the town. If he had thrown in a few complaints about the stretcher that was his business and just part of the conversation. When his wound was exposed to open air, Corin did  _ not  _ gasp and have to bite his lip. He had been shot before. Never this bad but he had powered through the injury in training and come out stronger for it. He would make it through this with minimal fuss.

When Din sprayed the bacta over the wound Corin slumped at the sensation of relief. He could feel the weird sensation of flesh growing back quickly but it didn’t feel bad. Suddenly the kid was cooing and standing next to the bed. Corin startled but Din just picked him up and placed him next to Corin.

“Hey little guy. What do you need?”

The kid looked at Corin before closing his eyes and reaching out a hand towards Corin’s wound. Din’s helmet shifted slightly to watch the kid and still be able to see Corin’s wound. Din just rubbed the kid’s ear and said, “Don’t overdo it.”

The kid chirped and then Corin was flooded with the sensation of sunlight and healing. He could feel the care and love the child held for him and was pouring into his wound. Corin watched as the wound closed even faster than the best bacta could accomplish. After what was maybe a minute Din tapped the kid’s head and whispered, “Enough.” The sensation ended and the kid’s eyes fluttered open before smiling and curling up next to Corin’s side, falling asleep almost immediately.

Corin just gazed in awe and whispered, “So that’s how he did it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by the amazing @super_fast_jell_fish they are amazing and so much help!   
> So my brain was fried by semester tests on Friday and then I had a hectic schedule all Saturday so. I've got more tests on Monday so I'm not sure if I'll have a chapter tomorrow. Thanks for reading and I hope you've enjoyed it!


	9. Oh to Feel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Din learns that he has feelings.

Din wakes up warm. Not just a hot day or nice blanket kind of warm, but the kind that he hasn’t felt in a long time—the warmth of another person.

His eyes fly open to the sight of Corin’s back: shoulders with muscle layered under a deceptive softness that leans into a sweeping neck with dotted stubble and freckles. Corin’s hair is dark and cut relatively short at the bottom but longer on the top, while Din’s hair is the grown-out result of a buzz cut from about a year ago.

Din takes in the sight of Corin sleeping peacefully and a few seconds pass before he registers just  _ how _ close he is lying to the other man. He then quickly rolls onto his back to get away from Corin, managing not to disturb him.

Getting up and out of the bed is more difficult though.

Din can feel the tiredness still aching in his body. He guesses that it is probably mid-day now, which means he has slept for at least ten hours. And he wants to sleep another forty.

Corin had been right in accusing him of not sleeping while he was injured. He was used to sleeping in small fractions, no more than fifteen minutes at a time. Because he had needed to check their surroundings and course, dropping in and out of hyperdrive to navigate around patrols and known areas of bad activity.

A straight jump to Kerrco might have taken sixteen hours if the  _ Razor Crest _ was fully operational. But it wasn’t and they weren’t taking a direct path. They had taken the quickest one Din could afford to take, which meant he hadn’t slept much.

So he had been severely sleep deprived by the time he had finally lain down next to Corin and hadn’t even had time to think about that fact before he passed out.

So now, waking up mid-day on a new planet, on a job, next to his  _ friend,  _ Din drags himself quietly out of bed and back into his armor. The helmet was still on of course, and he had slept fully clothed. But he had taken off his armor, changed into clean clothes, and then slept.

Putting his armor back on is a routine he knows so well, doing it robotically and silently. When he is ready to go, he glances over at Corin and the kid, who are still asleep. The kid is curled up by Corin’s chest with Corin’s arm surrounding the little one and Din’s heart gives a strange jolt of happiness before he turns and leaves the room.

Making his way down the stairs brings him to M’Jau working in the kitchen area. He clears his throat and she startles a little before turning to greet him.

“Good morning, Mandalorian! Did you sleep well?”

Din nods. 

“That is good. Is your companion alright?”

Din nods again. “He and the child are still sleeping.”

She laughs. “I see. Do you want some food?”

Din nods once more. 

M’Jau loads a plate with food and then another. “I’m glad that you’ve taken this job. We are in desperate need.”

Din stays silent. He is still horrible talking to anyone who isn’t Paz, Raga, or Corin. But M’Jau doesn’t seem to mind and continues to work on the plates before placing them on a tray.

“You can take these up to your room for you and your husband,” she says. “I’ve never heard of a Mandalorian traveling with his family before. Is it just rare or are you an exception? Either way, it is nice that you are able to travel the stars together.”

Din’s mind goes blank. For a solid thirty seconds he stands there frozen, rigid, as stiff as a board. Then his mind starts to race, cataloging and analyzing every moment, every interaction he’s ever had with the man sleeping upstairs. It all spins and circles until Din’s mind finally locks onto the moment Corin touched his wrist, those seconds replaying over and over until he comes to the mind-shattering conclusion that he has developed feelings beyond simple companionship.

The small things, like when Corin holds the kid and makes faces at the laughing child. Corin’s laugh and the way he smiles. When Corin manages to get him to talk even though social interaction is something he has always failed at. How Corin looks when he’s frustrated at the electrical components of the ship. The ache Din had felt in his chest that time Corin had gotten angry at Din for the issue about names.

Things like why he couldn’t leave him behind. How he hadn’t  _ wanted  _ to leave him behind.

Din stands paralzyed as he comes to the screeching conclusion that he’s had a romantic attraction to Corin for days now. If he could peg a time that officially started his attraction, it would be when Corin had voluntarily started to fix Din’s ship before he’d even known the man’s name. 

It still hadn’t even been a week since Din had rescued Corin from the mercenaries, but they already held each other’s lives in their hands and been through so much together. By any other standard, Corin should still be a veritable stranger to him.

But because of the former storm troopers tendency to talk and ramble on about absolutely everything and nothing, sharing small random details, that led Din to knowing Corin more than he would have thought possible.

Over the short span of time they’d been together combined with Corin’s unfortunate habit of being unconscious, Din shouldn’t already know things like Corin’s habits, speech patterns, general mental state. He shouldn’t know that Corin likes to sing but isn’t a fan of doing it around others so he only hums while he works. He shouldn’t already know two of the boredom games that Corin used to do with his former squad. He shouldn’t have a win-loss streak in said games that made him anticipate the next time they could play.

He shouldn’t have romantic feelings for Corin.

But he does.

Din is so screwed.

\------

In the end he hadn’t corrected M’Jau. He had just taken the tray and awkwardly left the kitchen.

Din makes it back to the room to find Corin and the kid still asleep, which makes him sigh in relief. He doesn’t know what he’d do if Corin was awake. 

He crosses the room with his plate to eat in the connected bathroom area just in case Corin wakes up. He eats quickly, washes his face, and goes back out to find the kid starting to wake up.

“Hey kid.” Din gently picks the kid up off the mattress before Corin can wake up and cradles him against his shoulder. 

The kid yawns and babbles a little before settling down again. It takes a few minutes of Din just standing and looking out the window of the room before the kid is fully awake and ready to eat some food. Din feeds the kid quietly and all the while Corin stays asleep.

Eventually, when the kid is done, Din takes him outside and lets the kid introduce himself to the other children. There’s a decent mix of species and ages, so even though the kid stands out the most, he is quickly absorbed into the games the children are playing.

He watches them play together, chuckling under his breath when the kids make silly mistakes or argue about the made up rules of whatever game they are playing currently.

About a half hour after Din took the kid outside, he hears a thud from their room that concerns him. He doesn’t even need two guesses to guess what the source was. He eyes where the kid is playing and judges it safe enough to leave for a few minutes.

When he enters the room he isn’t shocked to see Corin on the floor, but the fact that he is sitting up leaned against the bed is better than he had imagined.

Corin turns to look at him as he enters. “You weren’t supposed to hear that,” he groans.

“But I did.” Din crouches next to Corin. “You okay?”

Corin snorts. “Just fine. My legs just decided to not work, even after I sat on the side of the bed for a few minutes.”

Din sighs and slings Corin’s arm over his shoulders. Ignoring the pounding in his chest, he sits Corin back on the edge of the bed before stepping back away. “Do you want to go outside?”

Corin nods and Din makes a noise of agreement before he passes Corin the tray of food. “Eat first.”

Corin makes a happy noise and starts to eat. Din ignores the pounding in his chest again and starts to go through the bags to find clean clothes for Corin. He finds the ones he bought back on the Nikto planet, placing a set next to Corin, who had torn through the food like he’d been starved. 

Din must have made some sound of amusement because Corin looks up and stuck out his tongue.

“You try getting magically force healed and not be starving,” he says.

Din snorts. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Corin paused his eating to look around with mild concern. “Where is the kid?” 

Din walks to the window, looks out and says, “He’s playing with the village kids,” before going back to stand by Corin.

Corin nods and finishes his food. He then looks at the pile of clothes with a grimace. “Can you cut the rest of the suit so I can get it off without stretching?”

Din nods and sits next to Corin to carefully slice the undersuit down Corin’s back so that the material can be easily removed. Corin eases his arms out of the material and drops it on the floor with a huff before grabbing the new shirt. It’s a front button one that Din helps him into, careful to keep his fingers from touching Corin’s skin.

Corin’s wound is all but gone on the surface level, except for a nasty pink scar that will likely stay with him forever. It’s the internal healing they now have to manage. 

Corin buttons the shirt up and then sheepishly looks at Din. He gets the message and turns his head to look out the window.

Din does not let the sounds of Corin changing his pants get to his head. He does not.

When Corin taps on his arm, Din turns back and slings Corin’s arm over his shoulder and then stands up slowly. It isn’t easy. When they take the first step, Corin yelps and leans more of his weight onto Din, but they stay standing.

With each small step, Corin continues to hiss and bite his lip, but eventually the sounds quiet to just a small wince every other step.

“What hurts?” Din asks him.

Corin winces once more before replying. “Lots of the pins and needles feeling and then pulling on my abdomen muscles. I’ve had worse, but it’s not pleasant.”

“Corin, you had a blaster wound that nearly went all the way through. There isn’t much worse that it can get.”

“I know that. But I’m mostly healed now. It’ll just take a while to get used to walking again.”

Din sighs as they start to brave the stairs down. What is he going to do with this self-sacrificing idiot?

And what is he going to do about his feelings?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by the amazing @joonfired who kicked my ass and made me pick a tense and stay in it, could you tell the difference? Lol. The amazing @super_fast_jelly_fish for being an amazing help as always and helping me fine tune the little creative details that helped pull the whole chapter together!


	10. Watching the Kid(s)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corin plays babysitter and is clueless about the art of flirting.

Corin sat in a chair watching the children play. His pain was beginning to die down now that he was sitting. Din had helped him into the chair before one of the men who had offered the job approached.

“You wanted to talk?” The man said while eyeing Corin and fidgeting. Like he isn’t sure if the discussion is supposed to happen where Corin can hear.. It stings a little that he is being seen as so helpless, or like a nuisance to be worked around.

Din nods in response to the man and then places a hand on Corin’s shoulder. “Watch the kid.”

Corin frowns. “I can do more than just watch the kid y’know.”

“You’re still injured. Rest.” Din states it like a fact. Corin has done a lot more strenuous things than plan a hide-out raid while being hurt far worse.

“I can still help plan things.”

Din shakes his head slightly. “Someone needs to watch the kid. I’ll tell you what you need to know later, okay?”

Corin still frowns but nods in acceptance. He’s not being _completely_ shut out, but watching Din and the man walk away is still concerning. Enough so that he doesn’t notice when the kid approaches, until there’s a curious coo and a hand patting his leg.

“It’s okay. You’re dad just needed to talk to him about something.”

Corin can tell the kid isn’t buying it. Why is it that toddlers get to choose when they are socially aware? And they only ever seem to pick times when it’s inconvenient.

Corin sighs. “Why don’t you show me a game you’ve been playing?”

The kid narrows his eyes and chirps in a manner that is almost angry.

“Kiddo.” Corin sighs again and reaches to slowly pick the kid up and place him on his lap. It pulls and aches a little but it isn’t bad. “Your dad is doing a job right now. I’d only get in the way. He may say that we’re friends but I’m hurt, so I’m useless right now. I can’t even work on the ship.”

The kid chirps and tries to smack Corin’s face.

Corin leans out of the way and sputters. “What was that for?!”

The kid chirps again and this time smacks Corin’s chest.

“That’s not nice!” Corin is annoyed now. Not angry, but very annoyed. He knows he’s useless and only good for watching the kid. He ignores the voice in the back of his head that says it’s a big honor to be trusted to watch the Mandalorian’s kid.

The kid stares up at Corin and he can feel his annoyance drain away with a heavy sigh.

“What do you want little one? I can’t do anything right now. I’m stuck in this chair unless someone helps me move.”

The kid suddenly had a look in his eye that Corin did not trust. _At all_. Before he could do anything, however the kid was gone back to his group of friends. It only took a minute before Corin was surrounded by children.

“Hello.”

A young girl stepped forward. “Hi! My name’s Y’Tau! You need help right?”

Corin sputtered. “N-no I don’t! I’m fine. I got hurt so I can’t move around. That’s all.”

She pouts. “But that’s no fun! Don’t you want to play?”

Corin sighs and put his ‘dealing with children’ smile on. “I do but I can’t leave the chair without help. I’ll just watch you play okay?”

Whispers broke out among the ranks of children. Corin feels a bead of sweat began to run down his neck. This isn’t going to end well.

Y’Tau gets pulled into the council of children that are deciding his fate. He tried to catch a glimpse of the kid, his kid specifically, but the little green child is lost among the crowd. A few minutes of whispers and suspicious glances ends with the children turning to face Corin all at once. It was mildly terrifying.

“So, if we help you move, you could play with us?”

Corin gulped. He did not like where this was going. “I guess?”

“Great!” The little girl beamed, and Corin did not feel reassured.

Some signal was given because suddenly, Corin was surrounded by children who were trying to pull him out of his chair.

“Hey! Be careful!” The kids ignored him.

When Corin felt himself actually being lifted out of the chair he stopped fighting it. He did not want to be dropped on the ground. There was one kid attached to each of his legs, one on each side basically hugging him, one at his back, one at his front, and two on each arm. He was hunched over with the kids trying to support as much of his weight as possible. It was so weird and Corin did his best to support himself so that he wouldn’t fall and crush the kids. He felt like he was supporting most of his own weight. To the point that the kids were more likely to knock him over than be of any help.

“Okay! I can stand!” A few of the children backed away some. Corin stayed standing. “Leg two, let go please.” The two holding his legs let go and it was harder to stand but he stayed up. He took a big breath, and tried to catch sight of the little green menace that had started all of this.

The rug-rat was still curiously absent.

Corin stood up straight as he could and fought back a wince. He could do it. He isn’t being overwhelmed with pain, just very unsteady. He gives a smile to the kids. It’s tense, but it’s real. He is happy to be standing.

“I’m up.”

Cheers all around from the kids. Y’Tau re-appeared in front of him. “Yay! What game do you want to play?”

Corin sighed, “Why don’t you guys just help me go sit on that bench over there, and then we can figure it out from there.” The bench was across the small open area the kids had been playing in.

The girl bounced and started to order the others around until the two biggest children were supporting him on either side. Their heads barely reached his chest, and they were doing a slow shuffle walk over to the bench, but it was working.

Sitting down on the bench was a nice feeling that Corin enjoyed for a few moments. Until the familiar chirp of the green terror sounded. Corin looked to his side to find the kid standing on the bench next to him. The little green terror looked very smug and proud of himself.

Corin just poked the kid in the stomach, hung his head back, and relaxed into the bench.

Over the next few hours he was brought toys, or made to play referee for their games. All in all it was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

\-------

When the villagers start setting up for the festival, Corin is greeted with many thanks and well wishes for having watched the kids all afternoon so that they could work. He is given different plates of food to sample from and he accepts it gratefully. A young man brings him a drink and starts to talk, it’s a pleasant conversation until Corin takes a sip of the drink. 

It sets his stomach on fire and it is all Corin can do to not throw up. He spits out the liquid still in his mouth and coughs repeatedly. He normally can handle alcohol but that was awful. M'Jau suddenly shows up and starts to scold K’Laun for giving an alcoholic drink to someone who was recently shot through the stomach. After the young man scurries away M'Jau is left standing next to Corin shaking her head.

"K'Laun meant well." Corin felt bad for the scolding K’Laun had received. It was Corin’s bad luck for not thinking about what alcohol would do to him after he had been hurt.

M'Jau snorts. "He meant to flirt with a taken man, he should know better."

Corin tilts his head to try and catch sight of K'Laun, he hadn't seen him flirting with anyone. Nor did he understand how bringing him a drink was part of that flirting with whoever K'Laun was interested in.

Corin shrugged after not catching sight of K'Laun in the crowd. "Have you seen the Mandalorian?"

M'Jau shook her head. "He and our few warriors went out to scout the base. They should be back soon though, so don't worry."

Corin hadn't been worried. Not really. Just concerned about why Din had been gone for hours at this point. Corin had good luck all afternoon, all things considered. He could only hope that Din was sharing in his good luck and staying safe.

M’Jau walks away after a few minutes and soon Corin is watching the festivities begin. He follows the lights and the sounds wishing he was more mobile so that he could take part. Over the afternoon, with prompting from the kids, he had tested his mobility. He could stand up and wobble a few steps but the pain in his stomach was still enough that made it near impossible to support his upper body. He only wanted to curl up and ease the pain. He had figured out that the main source of his pain was that he was used to walking in a straight backed soldiers march. Shoulders thrown back, spine straight, and only looking straight ahead. This caused tension throughout his whole upper body, which meant muscles were being pulled constantly to support him.

Corin had never realized how much of a bitch it was to balance on only two legs.

When the kids returned in mass, he found himself once again propped up by the two biggest kids and being moved into the festivities. It took a few minutes, but soon he was absorbed into the fun and switched out his child helpers for one of their parents, who had decided the dutiful babysitter deserved to enjoy himself a little.

Corin had tried to protest but he was rebuffed and was included in the party. The sun was setting and Corin was getting tired, but he’s having too much fun to stop. Almost drunk off of the atmosphere he’s laughing and having fun, having made the acquaintance of the parents in the village. He worries about the kid but sees that an older woman, likely a grandmother, has taken over the duty of watching the children. He sees the little green menace playing with the village children, dancing and playing to the sound of the music and having fun. It brings a smile to his face and he resolves to enjoy the festival.

After the sun sets and most of the kids are taken off to bed, Corin let's M’Jau put the little one to bed and then the party starts to up its intensity. More drinks are brought out. Corin dutifully avoids the alcoholic ones, but finds a nice fruit based drink that the teens and a few women are drinking that he quite enjoys. The sugary quality gives him a bit of a head rush but his stomach doesn’t hurt so he continues to sip at his drink.

It’s about an hour past dark when the Mandalorian and the few warriors return. They are greeted with cheers. Corin praises his good luck that Din returned safely and has his current assistant, Y’Tau’s older sister, help him over to Din. Once in range though, Y’Tau’s sister shows that the mean streak runs in the family as she ducks away from under his arm. Corin is left to wobble in place and try to stay standing until Din takes pity on him and moves to keep him from falling on his ass.

Din snorts at the glare Corin sends after the young woman. “Having fun?”

It’s Corin’s turn to snort. “Oh yes. It’s not like I was abandoned to spend the whole afternoon being swarmed by children and having to play referee. Though the festival is quite nice. I’d offer you a drink but I’ve only had the non-alcoholic ones. Did you know that alcohol and stomach wounds do not mix well? That was bad luck if I’ve ever experienced it.”

Din sighs and continues to just stare at Corin. Corin can tell he’s staring. He may be on a bit of a sugar rush or something from the fruity drink, but he’s still aware enough to know that Din is staring at him for some reason. Corin pays the whispers in his head no mind though.

“I’d also offer to dance with you but I’m afraid I’m currently a bit uncoordinated. Destroyed torso muscles and all that.” This gets a huff of laughter from the man under the helmet.

“No really! I figured it out! It’s the whole physics of walking on two legs! You have to keep tension in your abdomen so that you don’t just fall on your face. Staying upright on my own makes the muscles pull and tear, so I’m in pain!” He gives a smile at Din. Proud of having figured out why he was still useless. Knowing why made it more bearable than just being broken with no explanation.

Din sighs and starts to walk towards the house. “I think it’s time to sleep. You’re drunk on something.”

Corin smacks at Din’s shoulder. The bite of his fingers on metal means it likely hurt him more than Din but the gesture stands. “Rude.”

Din sighs again and Corin snickers. Din always makes that sound, and it’s honestly hilarious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by the amazing @Pyrothebookworm!


	11. Din Can't Sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Din tries to emotion but keeps it inside.

Leading Corin back to their room shouldn’t be this difficult. It should have been simple to just walk through the crowd that tended to split around him. But no, Corin somehow made friends with the entire village in one afternoon and now everyone needed to stop and talk or wish him goodnight. It didn’t help that Din caught the winks and glances thrown their way as they left the party “early”. He was mortified to think about it but Corin was shamelessly and obliviously responding to any well wishes for his health and hopes he didn’t do anything to strenuous.

Corin laughed it all off saying a few stairs wouldn’t kill him. Giggles and sympathetic glances directed at Din abounded.

Corin was obviously tired. He was slouched and slow. Putting most of his weight onto Din to support as they finally made it to the door of the house. When Corin caught site of the stairs he groaned in suffering. Din shifted Corin slightly and trudged forward. They made the journey with no little amount of fanfare and Corin sagged in relief once he sat down on the edge of the bed.

Din looked around the room and saw the kid sleeping in the crib. He had assumed the child was asleep when he wasn’t with Corin, but the sight eased the small worry in his mind.

“I had M’Jau put him to bed at sunset. All the other kids got put to bed then, so he didn’t miss out on anything.” Corin slowly eased himself to lie down on the mattress, though his booted feet still hung over the edge. “He was a little menace. I could have stayed in my chair, but no! You left and he felt sorry and then I was attacked! Attacked by children.”

“Uhuh.” Din worked on taking his armor and boots off, keeping half his attention on the other man.

“I was!” Corin was attempting to sit up now but it was obvious he was too tired to do anything.

There was silence for a minute, the only sound was the sound of soft clinks of Din removing his armor piece by piece.

“He needs a name.”

Din paused and decided that Corin was definitely under the influence of  _ something _ . Regular exhaustion wouldn’t cause this string of thought, would it?

“We’ve talked about this before.” He was gentle with the reminder. That had not been a positive moment for either of them.

Corin’s hand flopped a bit, like he had tried to wave it. “I know that.” A soft, “I could never forget it,” followed, but Din chose to ignore that in favor of sitting next to Corin’s edge of the bed to remove the other’s boots.

“Then why bring it up?” He was actually curious about why Corin was coming back to the subject.

“He’s a good baby. A good kid. Him not having a name just feels… wrong, I guess.”

Corin’s boots were off and Din moved to his side of the bed.

“And just calling him ‘the kid’ doesn’t feel right either. You’re his dad!”

Din sighed at the heavy feeling that statement brought to his chest but just lay down with his helmet facing the ceiling, watching Corin out of the corner of his eye.

“I know you don’t want to just give him a meaningless name, but there has to be  _ something  _ you can call him besides ‘the kid.’”

Din remained silent for a while. Long enough that Corin asked, “Are you listening?”

“I am. Just thinking.”

“Oh. Okay.” Corin shifted on the bed until he was lying beside Din, staring up at the dark ceiling too.

Corin had apparently started to drift off to sleep by the time Din had a reply ready, evidenced by the slight jump Corin gave before his head turned slightly to face Din. “Adi’ka.”

Corin’s eyes went wide. “That sounds like an actual name.” He whispered, his confusion evident in his voice.

“It means ‘little child’ in Mando’a.”

“The language of the Mandalorians.”

Din softly snorted. “I am a Mandalorian.”

“I know. But you’re also Din.”

Silence. Din lay still and contemplated what Corin could mean. Din wouldn’t lie and say that Corin knowing and saying his name wasn’t a big deal. He didn’t get to interact with other Mandalorians often and after what had happened the last time it would probably be a long time before he even could again.

Corin shifted and was suddenly  _ laying his head on Din’s shoulder.  _ Din froze and held as still as he possibly could. He knew he should push Corin away, but at the same time the contact didn’t feel bad. Just strange and something he wasn’t used to.

“Adi’ka.” It was a soft murmur on Corin’s lips and Din could feel the other’s jaw move. “I like it. It suits him.”

Silence descended when Din couldn’t think of a response. Everything about Corin was strange and fascinating. He broke so many barriers but Din couldn’t be mad at him for it. Corin made him talk and share. Made him express the emotions he normally hid behind his helmet and didn’t explore because it was dangerous. An enemy who knew your emotions could exploit them. But Corin wasn’t an enemy. He hadn’t been since he passed over that blanket.

Since the moment he met Corin, the man had never made sense. Offering help, risking his life, fixing the ship, understanding Din’s past, protecting the kid, surviving a life ending injury, everything. Absolutely everything about Corin was irrational and crazy and something that Din couldn’t understand.

But he wanted to know more. He wanted to know more about the reason Corin was the way he was. Why did Corin bet on and blame luck? What were the stories behind the old scars on his back? Who was Corin’s family that he ended up with such little self-worth and confidence? Where did Corin learn how to be a mechanic? When did he get the promotion to the icy death trap?

Din wanted to know more and to understand the amazingly complex man that was now asleep on his shoulder. Who was this man, who had gotten closer to Din in a week than any of the Mandalorian’s own tribe in his whole time with them?

Din slowly raised his arm. He hesitated, but slowly he brushed the hair from Corin’s forehead. Tucking the overgrown locks back into place. His gloves were still on, but he could almost feel the heat radiating from Corin’s skin on his fingertips. Could imagine the softness of his hair.

Corin let out a little sigh of air and Din froze instantly. But Corin made no move to wake up. Instead, Din was left as the only one conscious, to listen to the faint sounds of the festival outside. Wondering and dreaming while awake. What could the future possibly hold with Corin at his side?

Din didn’t sleep for some time,  _ “What if?” _ echoing through his mind.

\------

Din woke to the soft light filtering through the window that indicated it was early in the morning. It took him a few seconds to wake up fully, but when he did, he didn’t get up right away.

He couldn’t get up.

Not for lack of want, but due to the fact that Corin was cuddled impossibly close, making his brain short-circuit and sending his heart pounding. Corin had a loose but firm grip on his arm and one leg tangled with Din’s. Corin was laying on his back, but Din’s arm was clutched to Corin’s chest. Din couldn’t even complain. Despite his new, tense stature, he felt comfortable and relaxed. He felt extremely well rested.

It takes a few seconds before Din registered the weight on his stomach. A glance showed him the cause: the Kid. His _ Adi’ka.  _ The kid was sleeping curled up on Din’s stomach with the blanket from the crib pulled around him.

“Adi’ka.” He whispered it. It automatically translated in his mind. For it to be a  _ name,  _ it would take time, but it still was fitting.  _ Little child _ . Fifty years old and still small. Maybe forever small. He could’ve been fully grown with only mental development left. Or he could grow to Din’s height or taller given enough time. Din didn’t know. He would likely never know.

Din slowly traced the outline of the little green ear. He received a soft coo in response, but Adi’ka stayed asleep. Din lay in peaceful bliss, surrounded by the two people who meant so much to him. He had given up everything he knew and believed for these two. For Adi’ka he forsake the guild and brought danger upon the covert, his tribe. The tribe may have accepted his decision and aided their escape but the danger was still real and a constant worry. For Corin he had to rethink everything he thought he knew about storm troopers and the grunts of the Empire. Not all of them were faceless fanatics willing to die for a dead cause. Corin had shown him that the Empire was home to the same grief and faults in people as every other organization to ever exist.

These two made him remember the good in people. There no longer was the line in the sand of enemy and ally with Din staying behind his own line holding even his allies at arm’s length. He was the functioning parent to the equivalent of a toddler with mysterious powers; he was a companion and friend to a former storm trooper who had nearly died multiple times to protect them. He now had to let at least these two behind his line.

They didn’t give him much choice but to let them cross that line. And, if Din was going to be honest with himself, he didn’t really mind. Until it ended, he hadn’t realized how lonely he had been.

The Ugnaught on Arvala-7, Cara and Omera on Sorgan, the temporary alliance with the rookie: he had had contact with people, yes. Three out of four on that list had actually been pleasant companions for a short time.But none had been as lasting or impactful as Corin had been. And Corin was still here to continue making an impact. Din couldn’t see Corin leaving any time soon, nor did he want him too.

Din sighed and slowly sat up. Using his arms to scoop Adi’ka up and place him next to Corin was an easy task. Corin’s arm immediately sought out a source to replace the contact he had had with Din and pulled the little one close to his side.

Din felt his heart clench at the picturesque sight and he had to turn away. The scene, now behind him, felt so right to see. It made no sense why he would feel that way. It was terrifying, but at the same time his heart pounded with foreign emotion. A longing for what the possibilities could be.

A future with Corin and Adi’ka. Finding some backwater planet far into the outer rim where they would never be found. Din could see it so clearly. And that terrified him.

He raced to put his armor on and leave the room. Staying silent as possible, Corin and the child never even stirred. He shut the door behind him and exhaled slowly. All he had ever known was the Way. Raised to adhere to the Resol’nare and continue it. Wearing the armor, knowing the language, defending of self and family, raising of children in the Way, contributing to the clan, and rallying to the cause. He wore the armor, he knew the language, those things he lived and breathed. He had claimed Adi’ka by refusing to turn him over and leave him there. By all right, he could claim Adi’ka as a foundling and claim him as his family. Then he would be charged to raise the child in the ways of the Mandalorians. He already fought for and defended the child with his life.

Corin did too.

The thought stabbed his brain. Corin could be in his family too. Whatever romantic inclination Din was harboring was paltry compared to the overwhelming concern and attachment Corin already had for the little one.

Din suddenly found himself fighting for breath. There was so much to think about and process that it was impossible to keep calm. The newness and rawness of the feelings he tentatively classed as romantic that were growing towards Corin clashed with the desperation he felt to claim Adi’ka as his. To speak the vows. Perhaps to both of them. It was getting to be too much.

He needed more time to think and standing opposite the door that led to the room where his greatest sources of turmoil lay was not the place for it.

He left the house silently and walked into the woods.

He needed time to think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by the always amazing af @MissTeaVee and @super_fast_jelly_fish! Without these two this chapter would have been a disaster and a half! Thank you for keeping me sane!


	12. A Healing Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corin is healed.

Corin woke up sore and with one hell of a headache. It took him a few seconds to come to full awareness. He immediately noted that something was missing and realized that Din wasn’t in the room. He next noted that the kid,  _ Adi’ka _ , was next to him and that stole his breath as the conversation from last night came back in full.

Din had actually done it. He’d named the kid. Adi’ka.  _ Little child.  _ It fit and Corin didn’t think there could be a better name for the small green child that was snuggled to his side. Corin shoved his embarrassment at his actions and behavior aside and instead focused on the positives. This was a good thing. A provision of good luck.

But, as happy as his heart was, Corin still aches all over. There was a radiating throb from his wound and his head pound in time with his heart. It wasn’t a hangover headache, he’d had those before, but it still wasn’t pleasant. He could still sit up, even with the discomfort, so he did. Adi’ka started to stir as well and Corin swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He probably wouldn’t be walking on his own yet but he could likely stand up at least.

He did manage to stand but it wasn’t pleasant. More pulling and radiating pain from the wound made him hiss as a wave of dizziness rolled through him. Corin didn’t try to fight it and sat down before he could fall.

The dip in the mattress from Corin sitting woke Adi’ka who whined softly. Corin picked up the little one and cradled him against his chest. The cries stopped and turned into happy murmurs that made Corin’s heart swell.

“It’s okay. Your dad will be back soon, wherever he went.”

Adi’ka cooed and snuggled into Corin’s chest, making Corin chuckle. He was just too cute.

“Guess what little one?” Adi’ka looked up and his tired eyes met Corin’s. Corin smiled. “Your dad gave you a name. You are Adi’ka.”

Sparkles in those eyes told Corin that the little one recognized on some level what had happened.

Corin poked his forehead. “Adi’ka.”

He got a happy chirp and a tightened hold he could imagine was a hug. He felt happy tears threaten to fall but he held back and instead just cuddled.

\------

He had a  _ name! _ Soft Daddy told him his name! He had heard ShinyDaddy and Soft Daddy talking last night but he didn’t know he had a name!

Names were funny. He knew his daddies had names, they called each other Din and Corin a lot. But they were his daddies. He couldn’t say the words either. Words were hard. But he was Adi’ka! He liked his name.

He needed to go find Shiny Daddy! He wiggled to get Soft Daddy to let go and then fell to the floor. He squeaked as he almost fell over but he was steady and started to the door. He was in front of the door when he realized Soft Daddy wasn’t opening the door.

He turned and chirped at him. Soft Daddy was still on the bed but now he looked sad. That wasn’t good.

“I can’t get up, Adi’ka. You know that.” Soft Daddy was sad! He didn’t want Soft Daddy to be sad.

His ears dropped and he scrambled back up on the bed. He reached out with the Light. Soft Daddy was still hurt and in pain! That wasn’t good.

He had to heal him. He knew how to do it. He had to push the little bits of light into Soft Daddy to grow and split so that the wound would close! It makes him really tired because he has to give some of his own light so that the little bits of light could get bigger but he could do it! He has lots of light to share and there was light all around that he can use to help. He tried to lift Soft Daddy’s shirt up but his hands were pushed away.

“No. I’ll be fine. We just have to wait for Din to come back.”

He chirped his annoyance. He could do it! He knew he could. Taking a nap was not bad if it meant that Soft Daddy was all healed.

“I don’t want you to exhaust yourself and get hurt trying to help me. I’m not worth it.”

Now Soft Daddy was being the strange sad again! Ad’ika knew what he was doing. He could make him feel all better. He tried to tell Soft Daddy but he doesn’t listen.

“Adi’ka, no. I’ll be fine.”

He pouted. Soft Daddy was wrong and Ad’ika wanted to help. He was going to help!

He closed his eyes and tried to see the little bits of light in his head. He could feel them all around; they were everywhere. He could feel the ones inside Soft Daddy; there were many little lights, more than Shiny Daddy had but so much less than Ad’ika had. He focused on the lights by the empty hole where there were no lights. That was where Soft Daddy’s hurt was and then he started to push his own light in. His light made Soft Daddy’s lights grow bigger until they broke apart into tiny pieces. He kept adding light until those pieces got bigger and then they broke apart. He kept going until the hole with no light was gone.

He opened his eyes and promptly fell down on the mattress, really tired. He looked up and Soft Daddy was crying but he could tell it wasn’t sad crying. He crawled closer and snuggled tightly. He would just take a nap and then go play.

\------

Corin was still crying when M’Jau walked in. Her concern was immediate and he had to wave her away from creating a fuss. He couldn’texplain why he was crying but he managed to stop after a few hiccupping breaths.

“What happened?” M’Jau looked serious. She was holding tray of food and a small basket of what looked like medical supplies.

“Yeah… I’m good. Just overwhelmed.”

She pursed her lips. “If you are sure.”

He nodded.

“Okay. I brought food for you and the little one,” she set the tray on the small table by the bed. “I also brought some medical supplies to dress your wound.”

Corin paused uncomfortably before speaking. “I’ll be fine.”

The look she gave him was blistering but he held firm. “You were shot. In the stomach.”

“The outside has healed. The remaining injury is internal.” He didn’t want to tell her about Adi’ka’s abilities to heal. He doubted she would react badly but the child’s force abilities was something they should try to keep hidden if possible.

“The wound may have closed but there will still be a sore. Off with your shirt.” She was firm but gentle and Corin’s trained soldier instincts wouldn’t let him deny her request.

Corin worked at the buttons and was surprised but not shocked at the lack of pain in the motions. He subtly twisted and stretched his torso more than necessary to pull the shirt off and found that there was almost no residual pain. He glanced down and the bandages around his stomach were still in place even though he knew they were just there to cover the tender skin of the ugly pink scar that was the end result of the last time Adi’ka had healed him.

M’Jau removed the bandages slowly and was properly stunned to find the pink scar where there should have been and ugly, healing wound.

“How it this? You were shot six days ago.”

Corin grimaced. “Bacta does strange and wondrous things?” He tried to say it plainly but the end sounded like a question.

She glared before poking at the scar which got a hiss. It wasn’t pain but the skin was still tender and sensitive. “Bacta does not repair plasma burnt flesh this quickly. Even if the Mandalorian poured pure bacta into your wound the second you were shot and kept up steady application every hour since you should not be this healed. When you were walking around yesterday I assumed you were functioning on a high pain tolerance and residual medication.”

Corin flinched slightly at the mention of medication. He and Din had discussed it on the ship while they waited for nightfall to enter the village. Corin had felt he needed to have his wits about him in a possibly hostile environment, so he hadn’t had any pain medication besides an applied pain salve in almost three days now. Din hadn’t liked it, but eventually agreed.

M’Jau caught his flinch and she did not look pleased. “What fool would let someone suffering from a plasma shot walk around with pain medication! The burnt flesh and seared nerve endings would create a sensation of constant burning and aggravation from any movement! Even if you used specialty bacta meant to treat nerve damage the pain would be constant!”

Corin felt anger flash through him. “It was a decision we made together. Your people hired us to protect your village. It would not do for me to be uselessly incapacitated by pain medication, unable to even see straight. The pain was nothing I haven’t experienced before and obviously I have healed enough that it wasn’t required.”

M’Jau was stunned to silence for a moment before she huffed indignantly and started to rewrap fresh bandages around Corin’s middle. While she did that, Corin glanced over to see that Adi’ka was still asleep; the spat with M’Jau hadn’t even caused him to stir.

Corin sighed and was startled to hear a strange metallic  _ bonk.  _ He looked up to see Din’s back as he tried to exit the doorway. Had he just hit his head on the door frame?

“You’re back!”

Din froze even though he had been leaving. Which was strange. Why was Din leaving even though he’d just got back?

“I am.”

“Great.” Corin looked down as M’Jau was securing the bandage in place. “I need to tell you something.”

“Uh.” Din probably was going to say something else but by then M’Jau was done and standing up to leave.

“Do you need food as well, Mandalorian?”

Din shook his head and M’Jau nodded before she left without further comment.

Corin glared after her. “She leaves without saying anything to you but I got a lecture.”

Din was still standing quietly by the door. Corin started to search for where he’d put his shirt. He could have sworn he set it right next to him but it seemed to have disappeared into the blankets.

“You need to tell me something?”

Din’s voice seemed oddly hesitant but grew more confident by the end of the sentence.

Corin nodded, still unable to find his shirt. “It’s about Adi’ka.” He glances up briefly and sees the strange flinch and reaction from Din. It didn’t seem like a negative reaction, per sae, more like Din hadn’t been expecting Corin to remember that conversation.

“He’s still sleeping?”

Corin grimaced and looks over at the child. Who somehow had a hold of his missing shirt and was snuggled into it. That brought a smile to his face but it was short lived. “He woke up but then he healed me more.” Corin looked over at Din. “I tried to stop him but he wouldn’t listen. He fell asleep as soon as he was done.”

Din walked closer to the bed to see that Adi’ka was indeed asleep. The sight of him clutching Corin’s shirt made Din huff in amusement before he turned to look at Corin.

“How healed are you now?”

Corin shrugged. “Haven’t really tested it. M’Jau came in soon after.”

“Try now. There’s a spare shirt in the bag in the corner.”

Corin complied and placed his feet on the floor to stand up The dizziness from earlier was missing and he stayed standing with ease. He shot Din a grin before he took a step forward. He was hesitant at first but he quickly crossed the room and was overjoyed that the previous pain was nothing but a dull ache that he could easily ignore. He found the spare shirt and pulled it on.

The rustle of fabric passing over his head hid the sudden intake of breath from across the room.

His head pops through the collar and he grinned at Din. He was healed; he was no longer useless.

Din nodded stiffly before gesturing to the tray of food M’Jau left behind.

“Eat. I’m going on another scouting trip.”

Corin had almost picked up the tray but looked over at Din. “I’m staying here again aren’t I?” He knew his face plainly stated that he was not happy about it.

Din nodded slowly. “Someone needs to watch the kid.”

“And?”

Din sighed. “I didn’t know you were healed until just now, Corin. Even if you do something too strenuous you could reinjure yourself.”

Corin huffed but eventually nodded. “Since I am better though, anything you want me to work on?”

Din considered it and Corin took advantage of the opening to eat a few bites of food. “If you can find out more about who here knows about weapons or how to fight that would be helpful. We didn’t find a lot yesterday but the tyrant seems well-armed and his men are decently skilled.”

Corin nodded. “I’ll do it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by the amazing @MissTeaVee!!! I couldn't do this without you helping me out! You deserve to be paid! Sadly I'm broke!


	13. Plan in Motion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back y'all. At least for now.

Din came upon Corin leading a marksmanship contest among the villagers. He stood off to the side and didn’t intervene; floored to see Corin in action. As far as he could tell Corin was doing it correctly and was teaching those who had no prior experience with guns the basics while those that had hunted previously or knew their way around a gun had a contest for who had the best accuracy. It was startling to see and caused a weird flip in his chest.

He left the lesson and contest behind and went up to the room provided to them. He saw Adi’ka playing with other village children being watched by a few village elders. He nodded in their direction before he entered the house and went to go wash up. What he’d found while scouting wasn’t good; The man threatening the village was noregular goon. He had weapons and underlings and well too many resources to be an easy takedown. Din had three days until the village had to pay up. That gave him some time to figure something out but it was not nearly enough.

He set his helmet down and pulled his gloves off to wash the sweat off his face and out of his hair. He needed to take a full shower; there was dirt and dust in and under his clothes, but he didn’t have time for that now. He needed to figure out a way to protect the village and take out the enemy.

He scooped water over his head and scrubbed his hair. It was already damp with sweat but feeling the water over his scalp was cooling and a good relief. He shook it out and glanced in the mirror above the wash basin. He took in the state of his hair. Messy and dripping. He had a little scrape on his cheek he didn’t remember the origin of. Tiny little scars decorated his face from training and from anytime having a helmet worked against him and having his head slammed into something caused spread out surface injuries instead of internal injuries. He would take the scars of blunt force trauma over countless concussions any day.

He fingered his dripping hair. He needed a haircut. Every Mandalorian learned how to cut their own hair before puberty or when they took their helmet for the first time if they didn’t have a close family that they could remove their helmet around to help them with a haircut. Din had learned to cut his own hair within a year of becoming a foundling.

Din suddenly heard the telltale sound of footsteps. He froze. His helmet was off. It was probably Corin coming to the room for something. Or maybe someone had told him that the Mandalorian had returned and he wanted to check in. He could barely pick up the sound of someone breathing a bit heavily,combined with the odd step pattern, he knew it was Corin. He glanced at his helmet. It was set far enough out on the bench Corin could likely see it the second he stepped into the room. Din reached for the towel by the basin silently. He pulled it over his head and dried his hair and waited for when Corin would walk around the corner. There was a pause in the footsteps and a pregnant silence.

Nothing.

There were footsteps but they faded and the sound of the door, which he had left stupidly open, closing firmly. Din let out a sharp breath.

He couldn’t believe it. There was no way that Corin had just done that. He knew that Corin had a near insatiable curiosity. He knew that Corin was desperate to know more about the man under the helmet. Din stared the man in the mirror down. The man in the mirror almost felt more foreign than the sight of the gleaming helmet.

He tossed the towel down and snatched his helmet up. He stared at the gleaming surface for a long moment, then slid his face back on.

He walked to the door and stood before it for a few seconds before opening the door and stepping through. He could see Corin out on the porch. The stairs led straight out to the front of the house. Corin stood there and Din could read the tense muscles in Corin’s back from the top of the stairs. Corin knew what he had done and was nervous about his reaction likely.

Din walked down the stairs quietly at first but then realized Corin likely would not take well to being snuck up on. Din let his footsteps fall heavy and came to stand next to Corin. After a second the bare faced man turned slightly and asked a tense question.

“How did the scouting mission go?”

And Din only had one answer to give. As much as he wanted to address what had happened he knew that Corin wanted to ignore it and that they didn’t have time for personal issues with the threat to the village.

“We have a problem.”

\-------

Corin was relieved when Din didn’t say anything. That likely meant he would be spared the bad luck of a punishment for having been around Din when he was vulnerable like that. Not that having a problem as good luck, but it couldn’t be that bad could it?

“What problem?”

Din crossed his arms and looked out at the village that surrounded them. “The guy squeezing money out of this place. He’s not just some goon. He’s got weapons, serious weapons, and a crew.”

“That’s not a problem.” He tries to stay calm. He knows the skills of the villagers now. He doesn’t like the idea of having to fight, he’d much rather take Ad’ika and run. But Din had been hired to protect this village and Corin had become attached to the people and the kids of the village. They couldn’t run, there was a bastard extorting money from these people, one who’d kill all the innocents without a care.

Din made a thoughtful sound. It was obvious that Din was trying to create a plan in his mind. “They don’t have to pay up for three more days. We have time to prepare.”

Corin let his shoulders fall. He’d been wondering. It was obvious that Din wasn’t planning to leave the village defenseless, why else would he have had Corin test the villager’s skills with guns? But to know that Din was actively planning something helped him relax.

“What do you want me to do? I tested the villagers already. Sixteen have prior gun experience and are half decent shots. Those that were interested picked up the basics easily.”

Din’s head turned. “Half-decent? Compared to a trooper or in general?”

Corin made a face and resisted the urge to swat Dins shoulder at the jab. “You do know that the reason trooper aim is so bad is because the HUD’s are glitchier than you could ever imagine. There are standards that all troopers have to pass in the academy.”

“So how are you without a glitching HUD?”

Corin smirked. Now he had a way to get back for the jab about his aim. “I bet I could give you a run for your money with a half-decent rifle.”

Din snorted. “I doubt that.” Corin ignored the flash of offense. “But if you say so. Keep working with the villagers. I’ll let you know when there’s something you can do.”

Corin nodded. He wasn’t great at making plans. Any plans he tended to make fell to the whims of luck. Anything he needed good luck for he got bad luck and if he ever tried to plan for bad luck it was never needed and his plan ended up messed up and some other detail messed him up. He was good at acting out plans that others made.

Din nodded back and then walked away from the porch towards where Adi’ka was playing. He gets relatively close before Adi’ka turned to see him. The little green face split into a wide grin and he raced over as fast as his little feet could carry him to cling to Din’s pant leg. Din picked Ad’ika up and said something Corin couldn’t understand but he heard the affection in. He felt happiness that was only barely tainted with longing at the sight of the father and son.

Corin watched the gentle way Din handled the child and was struck by the sheer care in how Din handled the little one. Corin had seen the strength and power of those hands and body. But whenever Ad’ika is even near Din, the power turned to softness and care. Din became almost clumsy, in a charming way, when he handled the little green child.

He remembered the soft skin hiding underneath that armor and leather. He knew that he’d crossed a line there by any standard with which he tried to rationalize it by. He was constantly pushing any boundaries that Din put up. And he wanted to do it again. He wanted to feel that soft skin and feel what those hands, normally so powerful, felt like when their caress was softly directed at him. It was foolish, bad luck to wish for it, but he wanted so badly.

He tried to clear his head of the thoughts but it was becoming increasingly clear, he was losing himself to the man under the Mandalorian helmet. And he just didn’t know if he should be scared of that.

Din set Ad’ika down and looked back to Corin to confirm that Corin knew he had to go somewhere. Corin nodded and waved slightly. Adi’ka looked his way too, pointing at the village kids, and Corin waved his hand permissively with a smile. The child smiled back and went back to the group of village children.

Din was headed off to the forest in the direction of the ship so Corin guessed that he was getting something there and went back to the clearing where he had left the villagers after someone had mentioned they had seen the Mandalorian walking past.

About two-thirds of the group was still there working and practicing,the experienced ones giving tips to the new shooters. Corin had to smile softly at that. He was amazed by how well the village worked together. He knew they were all close; the festivities of the night before showed how they all worked, lived, and celebrated together. Seeing people unify once again in the face of adversity was something he had missed for a long time. Not since his first squad in the academy had he had a group of people he could trust to support him and have his back when things got rough. Then the rebel alliance had picked up efforts and suddenly training became rushed; less focus on teamwork and strength and more on sheer number of boots on the ground.

Seeing these villagers work together and support each other was amazing and something he was proud to be a part of. He slid seamlessly back into the fold of training and advising. Coaching the beginners and advising the experienced. He gave a few demonstrations and felt a smug little tug in his chest when his shots sunk true. He wanted to show Din but knew that the man was busy, if he was even back from the Razorcrest yet.

He kept up the practice until the light started to dim. He gave praise where needed and deserved and held his constructive criticism for those he figured could take it. Unlike his instructors and commanding officers, he knew when the negative feedback would do more harm than help. He got smiles and back pats of thanks as they all trudged off. All the guns and ammo had come from the villagers so there was nothing for him to clean up.

He collected Ad’ika from the group of children that was rapidly dispersing into family homes. He gave his thanks to the elders that had watched the children and went up to their room.

He fed himself and the child before trying to get Ad’ika ready for bed. Din wasn’t back yet, though the sun had fully set by now. The restless green child wasn’t happy that his father was nowhere to be found. It was time for bed but Ad’ika was still restless and squirming anytime Corin so much as looked in the direction of the crib.

Corin sighed in a close imitation to Din. “Why don’t you camp with me Ad’ika. Just for a little while.”

If Corin was lucky, the little one would fall asleep on the bed and then Corin could place him in the crib. They lay together on the bed with Ad’ika snuggling into his chest. He wrapped his arms around the squirming child and waited for him to fall asleep.

It didn’t take long before they were both asleep, breathing softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long guys. I fell into a rut and then got a monster essay for school and my college speech class started full throttle. I'm glad to get this chapter to you guys either way and hope you enjoyed it! Beta'd by the amazing @MissTeaVee, i couldn't do this without her.


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